|
| Recent
Articles |
Integrated Enterprise Virtualization
Hu Yoshida, of HDS fame, spoke about a conference
in his latest blog, and one of the topics was virtualization.
His intro began with a suggestion for what the buzz...
Security Is Happening....Finally
I've got to resign myself that I'm cursed with longer eyeballs than most. It seems I'm like a B movie psychic when it comes to IT sometimes - I see whats going to happen, but there's not much I can do about it.
Google Warms Up A Summer Of Code
The search advertising company will support another Summer Of Code this year, where Google provides student developers with stipends to create new open source programs or to help currently established projects.
Software 2006 Wrap-up
I had the accidental honor of being the last speaker at Software 2006. So as I often do, I veered off of my showcase company presentation to point out how Socialtext is a conclusion of a theme.
Software 2006
I'm at MR Rangaswami's big event, Software 2006, where Socialtext is selected as a showcase company.
Big Easy Broadband Battles BellSouth
Hurricane Katrina prompted New Orleans' chief information officer to open the municipal 512kbps mesh network to anyone who wanted to access it, but now faces the prospect of a shutdown and legal fight prompted by BellSouth.
Solve the CIO Problem by Properly Organizing Our Capital
Our CIOs have a problem. One person has to have capabilities in managing diverse kinds of capital.
Nothing New For IBM
Big Blue's executive VP for innovation and technology does not think a "next big thing" will be coming around the corner ever again.
CIO Blog
If you subscribe to one blog this month, make it JP Rangaswami's.
|
|
|
05.31.06
PC Hardware: How Ego Can Cost Your Clients
 By
Joshua Feinberg
Your clients might be tempted to outfit their top managers and producers with the latest and greatest PC hardware.
After all, a CFO or senior account manager has a tremendous amount riding on his or her daily performance and productivity. But they need to consider better ways to spend their money.
What Does Your Client Really Need?
Look carefully at clients' software application requirements before you allow their "emotional" needs to drive tech PC hardware purchases. If a client's CFO spends most of a typical day crunching numbers in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and communicating via e-mail in Microsoft Outlook, he or she really has only very basic PC hardware requirements.
Would Their Money Be Spent Better Elsewhere?
As virtual CIO to this client, you may find at least a dozen financial software-related projects you could work on for this CFO that would bring greater bottom-line results than an ego-driven PC hardware purchase.
These consulting projects will be infinitely more profitable to your consulting firm than the slim profit margin on a high-end, commodity-like desktop PC hardware purchase.
What about Notebook PCs?
Also help your clients keep their egos in check with notebook purchases. Your clients can get some really useful multimedia features in high-end notebooks in the $4,000 to $5,000 price range.
But if the CEO of one of your main clients merely wants to access e-mail remotely, you easily could equip him or her with a reliable, high-performance, brand-name notebook for one-third to one-half of that price.
Use Your Knowledge To Help Your Clients
As your clients' virtual CIO and technology visionary, you have an awesome responsibility. Don't allow clients' objective judgments and technology budgets to get seduced by superfluous bells and whistles - especially when these bells and whistles take away from technology spending that can have a much greater impact than PC hardware purchases.
When in doubt, ask yourself this basic question:
"If my client took the $5,000 that was about to be spent on the "Rolls Royce" of notebooks and reallocated the amount toward computer consulting services, what kind of an impact on their business could my firm make with a $5,000 budget for a consulting project?"
About
the Author:
Joshua Feinberg, co-founder of Computer Consulting 101, helps computer consulting business owners get more steady, high-paying clients. Learn how you can too with free proven computer consulting secrets at http://www.ComputerConsulting101.com
|
|
