Can You Hear Me Now?
Today is my best friend’s birthday. Being a good friend, I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. I went on to Facebook to post a nice Happy Birthday wish on his wall. I logged in and did a quick search to find him amongst my friend list. I searched, but to my shock, he is not on Facebook!!! I began to panic and did not know what to do. I quickly logged into AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to wish him a happy birthday, but he was not online. Oh no! This was not going well. So, I sent him an email to his work address. I was all set, until I received the dreaded Out-of-Office bounce back. How dare he take his birthday off. Again, panic set in. He will think I am a bad friend.
How am I going to solve this?
Recently, one of our clients had a Web Presence issue. The issue wasn’t with their company’s website, rather with the CEO’s name. Let’s call him Fred Fakename. When Freddy did a 
“Penny-Wise, Pound Foolish” is never the right approach to budgeting. A few phrases we hear in the business world are Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). These phrases should ring true to anyone making a technology decision. This type of analysis should be done for investments in all facets of technology including new technologies, core infrastructure replacement and end user/general maintenance.
Customer satisfaction surveys are very much a part of the world we live in today. Frequently we are asked to fill these out. We see them all over the place in a variety of formats. We see them come through email, on websites, in the mail, and even placed on tables in restaurants. I used to wonder, “What good it will do if I fill this out? Will it make a difference? Will anyone even read it? Will it really matter?”
In IT Services industry, there is always a debate over what type of IT provider to choose for your small to medium-sized business. I have often heard from prospects a desire to go with a small, “Mom and Pop” provider to get that “more personal” touch. At face value, a five to ten person shop may seem attractive. You will have less people to communicate with and see the same engineer each week. In theory, your dedicated engineer will REALLY know your account inside and out, right? 
I love gear, Top Quality Gear. It don’t care what it is, as long as it solid. A 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30, an 18-volt cordless Impact Driver, The White Album, the iPad, Japanese cutlery, Band of Brothers Blu-ray edition and LOST. I don’t just like quality, I’m addicted to it. If it’s not quality, I don’t want it.
It continues to amaze me that budgeting for technology is overlooked by so many small businesses today. There are many reasons a well-understood budget is needed. This not to say a budget cannot change as the business and economic outlooks change. But overall, it is an important factor in driving businesses forward and ultimately reducing overall costs.
When most people think of great customer service experiences from a help desk, they think about the way they were treated by the engineer on the other end of the phone. As engineers, we have the privilege of being on both ends of the call on a regular basis; on the receiving end when we field calls from our clients and on the customer side when we engage vendor technical support.
“Your server is out of warranty…”
