The dangers of over specing and under specing: What every business should expect from your IT consultant

[All The Time Computer Services]

In this day and age there are so many options. So many computers are available, so many servers. There are many solutions out there. Now we have netbooks and smart phones, Internet Appliances. It's all this huge overwhelming mess. It used to be Apple and IBM. Now we're worried about our phones screen resolution and if we can type on the keyboard.

I wanted to get into some details on getting the best bang for your buck in equipment and support. It's really important for your IT consultant to come up with the best solutions for your business. Maybe you called someone for one job, or perhaps you don't want your own in house IT, and a consulting firm is the perfect choice.

Realistically, what is it that your company needs, ask yourself these questions before you start getting bids from consultants. This will save you and the consultants time and money.

1. How many employees do I have?

2. What do I need my computers to do?

3. Do I need a server?

4. Do I need a one time set up?

5. Do I need an ongoing support contract?

6. Do I want Windows PCs, or Mac PCs, and why?

7. Do I need someone onsite all the time, or just a few hours a week?

8. What kind of service am I expecting?

9. Are my hours of need different than normal business hours?

10. What am I willing to pay for?

11. What's my technology budget?

So now that you have asked all these questions, and answered them, it's time to start calling for bids. When you call a consulting firm, you should expect them to evaluate your needs. If you can answer the above questions, they most likely can give you a good faith estimate.

There are many differences in the types of technology chosen and reccomended for uses. If you are a home user, and want to simply surf the internet, you can probably get away with a sub $500 PC. It's usually wise to simply buy something ready to go fromt he box that meets your needs in this case. tech support is included in the price of your PC. If something goes truly wrong it will probably be more cost effective to simply replace the PC.

Lets take this a step further though. Let's say you either work from home in a virtual office, or you run your own business and just need one PC and a good internet connection. Now is the time you may want to start considering a custom built PC for your needs. Do you want to go Windows, Mac or both? What's the reason for your decision? This is where it starts to get tricky, because now you need to know what kind of system is going to work best for you. The specs. The ever scary specs. It's always good to know what you need though.

You can have your PC with one of several OS (Operating System) choices. Microsoft's latest is Windows Vista, and Apple's latest is Mac OS 10.5.5 Many consultants are still able to outfit you with
Windows XP as well.

First thing to think about is bits. Yes, 32, or 64. A 32 bit OS might be cheaper initially, but could end up costing you more in the end. A 32 bit OS will run 32 bit applications, but not 64 bit application. A 64 bit OS will run both 32 bit and 64 bit applications. For most business this is the best choice.

There are many OS choices available. You can get Windows XP, Vista Business (Home is not reccommended for business customers), or Mac OS 10.5.5

Vista is Microsofts newest OS. There are many pros, and cons to Vista. the pros of Vista are the pretty graphical interface, ability to use duo core processors, taking advantage of higher front side bus speeds.

Disadvantages to Vista are, many pieces of hardware, software, and some internet sites are not compatable with it. Vista is also a memory hog. You need plan on having at least 4GB of Ram on your desktop. Microsoft says 2GB minimum, but after testing this on computer after computer we have come to the conclusion this 2GB is way too low and lends itself to many problems.

XP is Microsofts older, but more stable OS. There are many patches out, and it's currently seeing a second life on such netbooks as ASUS eee PC, Acer Aspire One, and Wind. XP comes in Home and business versions. 32 bit and 64bit. Again for business 64 bit is the best choice.

Now here comes the odd ball out Macintosh. Old Macs used a RISC based processor and were not compatable with anything but MacOS. Now they are Intel Duo Core. So you can dual boot a machine with Mac OS 10.5.5 and Windows XP or Vista. Here's the kicker though. Mac OS X is a very clean operating system based on the free BSD kernel and BeOS. It needs a lot less RAM to run correctly. Most Macintosh systems are shipping with 2GB of RAM at the high end. They cost a lot more than comparable Windows based systems. There is also an issue wwith XP going on even the new Intel processor based macs. IE will crash over and over. It's a Mac issue. Vista on the Macs will fix this issue, but you'll need to upgrade to 4GB of RAM which could really eat into your pocketbook. Unless there's a very good business reason, Mac isn't the best business solution for most users.
Some reasons to go with macintosh may be a person involved in media arts or desktop publishing.

There is a last option that might or might not be too popular, but isn't bad for businesses, Linux. Linux is a free OS based on a Unix kernel. Linux can be very flexible, and run on 486s if you are feeling the need to really cut costs. Most people won't know how to install Linux and network it, so this is where you will need a consultant most likely. For basic business environments Linux may run really well! This is a good option, but you need the right situation. In this case the OS doesn't cost you but the machines, and installation will. Upkeep will as well. Kernels need to be rebuilt, and it's not quite as intuitive as windows yet.

If you need a server make sure you hire a consultant that can do this proficiently. There are a lot of people who are great break fix and desktop techs, but they can't for the life of them set up a server. A good consulting agency will have people that are proficient in both things.

During a server build or buy your consultant should go over the best options with you. They should talk to you about Server OS's, hardware, and how to back your server up. If you need one server, you probably want a RAID Array, and possibly a backup server. If you can afford two boxes, plus a backup system this is probably your best bet. Backing things up is incredibly important. If you aren't offered back up options you're being under speced.

If your technology consultant over compensates you may end up buying things you don't need. You also can end up with a setup more suited towards a large business. If you're a small or medium business you won't need the same IS or IT setup as a large multinational corporation.

If you are under speced you run the risk of not being able to run applications you may need. If you're a Graphic artist say and you are given a computer with a 32 bit OS, and need to run Adobe Photoshop 64 bit, you'll have to spend time energy and money upgrading your system.

Now lets talk about after the setup. IT doesn't end with the setup. Now there's upkeep, and break fix when things go down. You may want to ask about a contract for ongoing support. Perhaps you need someone onsite for a few hours a week, say 1-6 this is where a consultant is more cost effective, or a prepaid support contract. If you start needing 10 or more hours a week, except in the cases of an emergency, it may be wise to hire someone for desktop support. Then you can keep a consultant on contract for your server support. All of these things will help you cut your technology costs.

If you just need help with your current comptuer systems, ask yourself at what point is an upgrade or new technology preferable to break fix? Weigh your costs.

No matter which consultant you hire, this article should help you ask some of the right questions and demystify the technology process.