Finally affordabe I.T. solutions

Our Clients- Voltage pc has been designed for the small business owner who is looking for technical synergy and low cost solutions. Our client usually is a small business owner who realizes the need for an Information Technology department but unfortunately does not have the capital for such a team (until now). Due to recent advances in the world of Pc support., many companies are now able to offer remote pc support. This breakthrough is leading the way for low cost Pc support and regular system maintenance. What this means to you as the SMB, (small medium sized business) is simply cost reduction.

Common Task- Many SMB's do not really understand what an I.T department’s job really is and why it is beneficial to have such a department. One of our biggest jobs in the I.T. department is maintenance, many of the computer problems we deal with could be simple avoided with regular routine maintenance. Unfortunately many SMB’s only deal with there computers on a break/fix basis we have all heard the phrase “if it aint broke don’t fix it” s although this mentality in the world of computers will surely cost you.

The most important job of your I.T department should be guiding you into your technical maturity. Simply put, where are you now and where are you going technically is the I.T departments greatest task.

An example may be best for a clear understanding.

We will use a mortgage broker as our example. Many small businesses begin in the home and with any luck, will prosper, and out grow the company’s birthplace relatively quickly, usually 1-2 years. Now when our client first began his business at home he/she felt that a network is not necessary and they can probably use something like Microsoft outlook to manage their contacts. Although this may be true, the cost for the company when it moves from its birthright will be far more costly and time consuming then if our client would have installed a network and the proper software from the beginning. Many mortgage bankers also used web-based software, which will also lead them to believing there is no real need for a network.

Now let’s look at the above scenario and see if an I.T department could help. First, we will discuss… to network or not to network. Unfortunately, this is not an easy answer. As for me, I believe in hosted solutions and for many mortgage brokers they use a solution called calyx, which is a hosted solution. Now for a single seat using the calyx software it will cost you $350, for each additional seat, it will cost you another $100 www.calyxsoftware.com . Calyx is great software with many features that are difficult to duplicate but with the right software installed, you really don’t have to

If you start with a client server setup for a single user you would pay anywhere from $2000-$5000 for all the necessary hardware, software and installation (there are many who will try to charge you more than quoted). Next you would need a good contact management software, in this case act premium for real estate $369.99 (single user license) www.act.com Now many of you are looking at the price difference between the client –server setup and the calyx setup and thinking its more cost effective to use calyx then the client server setup. This is simply not the case as our client expands beyond the home based business.

The client server setup will allow five users to share files and emails, as well as all contact information, calyx will not. Furthermore, the cost of the client server is a fixed cost for at least 3 years closer to 5 years. The calyx cost will continue yearly and will grow as your company grows. Once you grow to the point where you need the calyx data server you will now spend another $2000 plus you’re per seat licenses below is the table breakdown to show as your business grows your cost grows.

Calyx

Server $2000

Seat License 5 $750

Total $2750 (yearly)

5 year total $13750

Windows 2003 Server $1902

Act 5 User License $1999

Installation $1000

Server maintenance $2000

Total (5 year) $6901

The point of this break down is to show you the importance of an I.T department you see over a 5-year span the calyx solution will cost you 13,750 while the client server with an estimated maintenance cost of 400 per year will cost you almost $7000 less then a calyx solution. Does that mean client server is a better solution? Possibly but the point here is that a good I.T. solution provider should be a liaison helping you to understand your technical goals through every step of your growth process. There are too many unanswered questions in the above scenario to say which is the better solution but wouldn’t you want a technician to answer that for you considering there may be a difference of $7000 dollars over 5 years.

In conclusion, with the reduced cost associated with using remote support solutions, many I.T. companies can and should produce greater support for small business at rates that are affordable. At Voltage pc, we can support your entire office and help guide your technical growth for less then what you probably pay now for your current break/fix support.

At Voltage Pc most small business with 5-10 computers can be supported for approximately $1188 per year or less

For More Information on VoltagePc please visit us at www.voltagepc.com

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Technology Sucks…...AND I AM A COMPUTER TECHNICIAN.

I am sorry had to get that out but its true every word of it. Technology is great no denying it and at this point, who could live without it. This is exactly the point of this article. If you lose your cell phone, you have lost all your contacts. Computer crashes no business today. On the road forgot your laptop have to go back to get it. Gets home Cable/DSL router down no web surfing? Where does all this end, has our dependence on technology invaded our very life's to the core, unfortunately…...yes it has.

Let's talk about cell phones as our first example. I consistently hear people complain about the cost of a cell phone or the amount of the bill itself. Our problem is we only see the phone in our hand not the labor that went into it.

First, we have the assembly of the cell phone that we all know is pennies on the dollar due to foreign labor. (Foreign labor definitely another blog waiting to happen). Although the manufacturing of the phone itself may be inexpensive, what about the engineering of the phone, some electrical engineer (yearly salary $48,010) somewhere had to be paid to sit there and design that little black or silver phone in your pocket.

Secondly, we have the software designer (yearly salary $60,000) who has to design the software that allows voice dialing, surfing the web, speed dialing and the myriad of other features we find in our oh to familiar cell phones.

Finally, we have the network that our wireless signal travels on, this includes the towers that are erected, the many network technicians to keep it running, the satellites that try to prevent our dead spots and of course the many salespeople, marketing teams and top brass who think of the next innovation to keep us purchasing their products. Although I could not find an exact number for this cost, I am sure it's in the millions yearly.

The purpose of the cell phone breakdown is to open you mind up to the cost of technology. Many people believe that computer technician’s prices are extremely high and this is what leads me to write this article on why technology sucks.

First of all obviously I don’t think technology sucks if I did I would not have invested 12 years of my life into it. What I do think sucks is that over the years it has become a thankless profession in which people feel there are being robbed instead of helped.

When I first began my career in Information Technology the help desk position was almost as good as being superman. You would have a problem with your pc, call help desk then we would put on our geek cape swoop down to your floor, fix the problem, and walk away with the thanks and appreciation due to all who celebrate geekdom.

What I realized after starting my consultant business is the reason we were all so well loved back in the good ol’ days is that our cost was transparent to the users. In today’s day and age as a consultant my cost is anything but transparent. Look at it this way if you work for a fortune 500 company they have all the computer staff you will ever need on the payroll, but if you are running your own company you have the cost of pc support and maintenance to absorb, which means no more happy faces when we come.

Sad but true, we are now looked at like an unavoidable evil instead of an important part of day-to-day business. Fortunately, there are multiple levels of computer users and as the computer user becomes more informed, the better a client he becomes. Lets look at the stages of pc user how they evolve, and how and what, a technician deals with in each step.

Level 1 –novice user, There are not many of these left these days considering a child born in 1980 would actually be 27 years old today. (gees I’m getting old) which means that they have no memory of a life before computers so almost everyone today at least knows what a computer is and knows how to use one…or do they?

The novice user usually has the knowledge of how to use a computer but do not know the best practices on how to keep it problem free. They may download programs or install programs and never delete the temporary files that every program will install during the installation process. They may never use the defragment program that is in every windows based operating system to keep the hard drive contiguous. (If you don’t know what contiguous means you must be the novice user we are talking about). They may never run a virus scan or download the patches offered to keep there system up to date on the last virus definitions. This is the novice pc user, his face has changed over the years but the habits haven’t.

Let’s discuss the problems as technicians we face with the novice user. Problem number one is if you don’t do regular maintenance on your computer, it’s an awful mess by the time we get there. Time equals money, so when you see the bill after we have performed our services you are usually very unhappy. Worse yet is our other problem, this problem I have named Johnny power user. Our power user is not quite a technician but pretty far removed from the novice user, this is the person usually called upon by our novice group to fix the simple pc problems. Unfortunately for all us techs worldwide he usually doesn’t charge for his service so the novice user has become quite use to the idea of having his/her pc fixed free.

Level 2-power user (Johnny) The power user is a far better client in the world of consulting. You see for us he/she has fixed so many other peoples computers over the years that he has gained the understanding that this (a computer technician) is really a job. Although maybe not a technician in his own right, he has gained the insight into the world of a pc tech that our novice user never sees.

She/he may know how to keep there computers up and running and problem free but have also realized that there core competency is far more important to there bottom line, then fixing and maintaining there own computers. At this point they prefer to use outside resources then to be bothered with the day to day maintenance of there own pc’s F.Y.I this is when your power user stops answering your calls when you need him to fix your pc.

Level 3 Power user extraordinaire-This is a tech without the certifications and our favorite client. This client understands networking, client server relationships, the difference between operating systems, Lan/Wan requirements the difference between a Linksys router and a Cisco router and overall could do my job if he wanted to. Why are they our best clients simple they value the cost of our knowledge they understand that a pc is a tool much like your vehicle. Your vehicle needs regular maintenance to provide a nice safe ride to and from work, school, soccer practice etc. Your pc also needs the same attention and our power users know this.

In conclusion- technology is here to stay and you will consistently need people to work on it. Although technology is often overlooked as in the cell phone analogy, it cannot be ignored. The best one can hope for in the world of Information Technology is that you will consistently educate yourself and find a firm that can bring you forward one step at a time affordably and consistently. We are one such firm www.bizmanconsulting.com and we have a entire page devoted to free and low cost solutions to keep your pc running at its best. We at Voltage pc hope you have found this article educational and will continue to post regularly on our blog darrinjackson.livejournal.com please feel free to leave comments its been our pleasure to serve you.

Information Technology and Marketing Synergy

How to find more clients you already have?

This is an interesting topic of discussion one of the things that intrigues us is if you have been in business for any stretch of time and already have a customer base, one that you have gradually generated over the years, and then it has cost you a sizable amount of time and capital to create. Yet as business owners we invest so much time trying to generate new customers instead of cultivating new sales from current customer, (you guessed it here come one of those examples again).

One of our clients maintained that our solution simple could not work for him because he has a real estate company. His view was once he puts a customer into a home or apartment the deal is complete there is no up sell for his particular product so at the close of deal, the bond with the customer also closes. We quickly showed him the error in that thinking, now we will show you his solution.

We explained to him the first thing he had to do was, acquire all the necessary data at the beginning of the customer relationship and have it in a usable format for later data mining. Remember know how to use your tools.

In his situation, the instrument is contact management software, by implementing contact management software, we were able to show him how to acquire the correct data for further sales with the same client or create a referral base from his existing client base. This is how we implemented it. First, we paid careful attention to his renter’s client base they are a potential for home ownership if cultivated properly. We designed a new informational chart for potential clients to fill out (only adding email address, level of desired home ownership, future career plans, schools, upcoming tests i.e. computer certification, health care certification , or relocation). The value of this new form was to determine the client’s projected financial growth in the next 2 -5 years. As for real estate brokers and mortgage brokers, you have clients that are fixed in a location for two- or more years (new lease), so they are definitely a captive audience. (Easy to keep in touch with).

The next step was to help him channel his marketing dollar. Our client never thought of a small cost effective house-warming gift. Have you ever had your realtor generously give you a house-warming gift? In this case a his and hers monogrammed towel set was the desired house warming gift. Cost to customer $30(that he recoups twice once from the office fee he charges second from the referrals and return clients).

The last step was to explain to our client how to mine the data for possibilities. Once completed it looked like this to our client.:

If the realtor's client was an apartment renter he had enough information to determine when and if his client could become a potential homebuyer (mortgage sale). The house-warming gift established awareness in the buyers mind (word of mouth sale). Every 3 months we advised our client (the Realtor) to send an email or postcard to his customers (lessees). We also showed him how to pay attention to his leases since he knew exactly when the lease would expire for each of his clients (future sale or apartment rental) which enabled him more return business. In the scope of 1 year, our customer increased his sales revenue by a little over 50% literally doubling his earnings.

Most importantly some reading this may assume this method would be incredibly time consuming and hard to implement. In all actuality, our client has more time on his hands now then when he was earning less. Why? He understood how to use his tools. Contact management software or a CRM solution are like gold to a small business it makes data management simple yet effective. You do not have take our word for it do your research and determine for yourselves, it will definitely if implemented correctly improve your bottom line.

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