Have you ever sought IT solutions and made technology investments that ended up feeling like a waste of time and money? If so, you are not alone. This is a common mistake in small companies
When you choose technology IT solutions (e.g. purchase a new CRM, migrate to Google docs, move to cloud based technologies) without consulting a technology advisor, you risk wasting a lot of money as well as your time and your staff's time.
Let me illustrate the problem using a client who recently came to Skyriver IT for help...
The president of a 25-person landscaping company moved to Skyriver IT because their former IT provider had let them down on several critical support issues.
As we prepared for the transition, we discovered that the president of the company was making IT decisions without the guidance of a technology advisor. As a result, their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was not connecting to QuickBooks properly. This resulted in some data was not getting transferred to QuickBooks. So, the accounting team had to identify what data was missing and enter it manually.
It was very frustrating for the accounting team and even more frustrating for the president who spent $25K on ERP software that reduced the productivity of his team. The president was so frustrated that he was ready to write off the whole $25K he spent on the ERP software.
Skyriver IT worked with the ERP software provider for a week to solve the connectivity issues with QuickBooks. This cost the landscape company $5,500 in additional service fees from the ERP software provider. And while Skyriver IT did engineer IT solutions with the ERP software vendor, it cost the customer $5,500 and could have cost them $25K, if they had scrapped the whole system.
How Can You Protect Your Company?
Whenever you choose a new technology, make sure you engage an unbiased (ie. someone who is not selling the solution) technology advisory. If your current IT service provider is not capable of being an unbiased technology advisor, often called a virtual CIO, you should consider working with someone who can. Many IT Service providers now offer CIO services as a part of their package, but you need to be sure they are not profiting from the solution they are recommending to you.
About Skyriver IT
At Skyriver IT, we feel that IT service providers should provide unbiased CIO services as part of their package. Customers work with us because we offer high-level IT solutions and advices in addition to taking care of day-to-day issues for them. We look for long-term relationships and believe our growth will result from referrals from satisfied customers.
Skyriver IT is a San Diego IT Service Provider that helps companies make the right IT decisions. Call Skyriver IT at 858-812-9322 to learn more about our technology advisory services.
