I was asked an interesting question today: “What is the best type of Internet connection?” Yes, you are reading the blog of an IT company, so interesting is a relative term here.  Which is exactly my point.  ”Best” is also a relative term, but all to often people ask us for the “best” solution, but fail to define what “best” is for them.

To which I replied… “what to you mean by best?”… her response was a blank stare… (crickets) …followed by… “….well… what do you have?” This was going nowhere fast…

What is “best” to me, my home or my company can be very different from what is “best” for you.  Therefore, the “best” type of Internet connection (or anything for that matter) is usually is one that meets all your unique needs at the lowest cost.  For example:

• Residential users typically want Internet service that is reliable, constant, somewhat fast and relatively inexpensive.
• Businesses typically want Internet service with guaranteed uptime, responsive support (if something does go wrong) and higher bandwidth. They may also want added services, but will pay more.
• Mobile users want an Internet connection that is widely available, relatively fast and easy to access. Mobile users are not as concerned with downloading a lot of data, but accessibility is a priority.Price is again at a premium here.

To find the “best” type of Internet connection you must first know your needs related to cost. For Internet service they are usually cost, accessibility, access, support, bandwidth and usage.  Once you know that, finding what is your best is much easier.

Tags: need assessment
Categories: Commentary, Technology Advising, Training
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I feel truly blessed to have developed relationships with our clients where we can have a direct effect on their businesses.  In advising our clients, working hand-in-hand with the owner and leadership of the company to help match the clients business strategy with the proper technology to achieve those goals; this is our Advising services.  It’s great to see the results when a properly developed and implemented plan come together and play out of over a multi-year period.  The dividends are paid in terms of increased productivity, reduction of costs, happier employees and clients.

Entrepreneurs are a stubborn group, myself included.  Busy people with power can adopt what I call a “ready, fire, aim” approach to project planning and implementation.  It happens on a nearly continual basis, that owners with the best of intentions ask us to implement a solution they’ve developed.  ”Here is what I think what we need, send me a quote to get is done yesterday”.  Unfortunately all to often, as they are not IT Consultants, their picture of the technology available to solve a problem is at best a few years behind the time.  I had one business owner just two years back suggest we implement a floppy disk backup system he had in the closet because he “still worked and didn’t want it to go to waste.”  … not everyone can be helped.

I stress to our new clients (and often remind our existing) that we have a process in place for a reason and it’s important we stick to it because it works!  Technology is a foundational part of most businesses, developing an understanding of our clients business to implement these mission critical systems is important to getting it done right the first time.  And it’s always easier (and cheaper) to do things once.

Tags: Advising,implementation,Planning,process,project management,strategy
Categories: Commentary, Digital Partners, Technology Advising, Training
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Many of our clients have been reaching out to us recently on ways they can save on their technology budgets in 2009. I like to remind them we’ve been working on that very process since they became our clients. Making smart decisions on technology is not something you just do in rough times, but all the time. For the next week we’ll be outlaying a few simple points will help your make smart decisions on IT for your small business.

Categories: Digital Partners, Support, Technology Advising, Training
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