Comments on From the Desk(top) of Dan Woodman: Get a Haircut and Get a Real Job….

Right! You're not alone. This is how a lot of co...

2009-04-20T16:33:00.000-05:00

Right! You're not alone. This is how a lot of companies operate. We're on a different business model. Rather than selling banks of hours for on-site support, we focus on remote support. For instance, our silver package focuses on remote network monitoring. We install agents on the client network and watch event logs, system statuses, etc. for problems. Anything that we see, we contact the client and let them know so they can decide if they want us to fix it. The gold package actually adds significant services above and beyond silver, including AV/anti-spam filtering, and unlimited remote support. At this point, we become the IT department for companies who don't have one or augment the IT department for companies that do. This way, even smaller companies can have enterprise-level IT support. Because the remote support is unlimited, we fix problems remotely as they arise, hopefully preventing issues from ever becoming problems where someone needs to be on-site. If we do need to send someone on-site, then we have an on-site hourly rate, just like a break/fix shop. The main difference, though, is we are proactive, rather than reactive. Rather than waiting for a phone call saying my X is broken, we are watching logs, monitoring systems, and ensuring that those issues don't become a problem that someone needs to call in about.

The idea behind this is to create a predictable monthly spend for our clients in the IT realm. Unexpected emergencies aside, they know that their networks will be taken care of for one low price each month. They're also getting 24/7 monitoring, so they don't need to be concerned about something going down in the middle of the night -- we worry about all of that for them.

Because we're so heavily involved in our clients' IT, we also perform regular "virtual Chief Technology Officer" meetings, where we sit down with our clients and help them plan IT strategy for the future. Again, this is about helping our clients understand what to budget for (as far as upgrades, new technology, etc.) and what to avoid as new technology rolls out.

Okay. . . So we purchase a bank of hours every qu...

2009-04-20T16:11:00.000-05:00

Okay. . . So we purchase a bank of hours every quarter. So we buy 90 hours worth of work, any kind from swapping out the hard drive in my computer to updating the software and doing repairs on our exchange server. We use all 90 hours and then we are billed hourly, we don't use the 90 hours it resets the next quarter.

Like I said they do everything as far as IT here. The company is called Windward Networks. They also do any break/fix repairs for all of our properties. Many of the HVAC systems are run on a server, they bill that to us under the property name per hour, not against our office bank of hours.

They do come in and swap fans out things like that...

2009-04-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

They do come in and swap fans out things like that. Our web and exchange server is onsite so they are here whenever we need an upgrade or what have you.

I understand that Mavidea isn't a break & fix shop but these people do everything for us from break and fix to upgrading/ updating our servers and what not to web design, to setting up anyone & everyones iPhones & Crackberries.

I'm curious, Mike... when you say they're "on-sit...

2009-04-20T11:17:00.000-05:00

I'm curious, Mike... when you say they're "on-site" once or twice a week... Does that mean that they are coming in to fix things rather than handling them remotely or are you saying that they're on-site delivering hardware, etc.?

I only ask because that's one of the things I am working on communicating better -- we're not a break/fix company. We are proactive -- monitoring the health of the network at all times, rather than waiting for one of our clients to pick up the phone and say, "Something's wrong..." and I am not 100% sure that my messaging on this topic is clear yet.

We have a company similart to Mavidea. They prett...

2009-04-20T09:12:00.000-05:00

We have a company similart to Mavidea. They pretty much handle everything and are on site once if not twice a week.

Well, they're willing to send me anywhere I can fi...

2009-04-14T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well, they're willing to send me anywhere I can find new clients. Let me ask you a question, Mike... how is your organization handling your IT infrastructure needs now? :)

Nice!! Best of luck. I hope they send you out to...

2009-04-14T14:13:00.000-05:00

Nice!! Best of luck. I hope they send you out to Denver some time!