One of the things I love about Cockermouth is the uniqueness and range of its small shops and businesses. Many towns are blighted by corporate conformity and have exactly the same selection of establishments as the next town. The same shop fronts, the same selection of goods and services, the same corporate logos, the same bored staff... they all combine to make a visit to a ‘normal’ town a deeply depressing affair.
Here in Cockermouth, it’s refreshingly different.
So what has this to do with PC support services?
Well, I was thinking about how difficult it must be for a small business to take advantage of technology. The big boys can afford their own IT departments, who provide centralised support to all branches. Staff don’t have to worry too much about their IT systems, because there’s always a support person available at the end of a phone.
A small independent business can’t afford the luxury of permanently employed IT support, but there are options:
1. Let the proprietor and his/her staff be part-time DIY IT support people.
2. Don’t use any IT equipment at all, because it’s just not worth the risk to the business if it goes wrong.
3. Take out a maintenance contract with a third party IT company.
4. Build a relationship with a friendly local IT specialist who will provide advice and support when needed.
Option 1 is all well and good if the people concerned have the necessary skills and interest, but when they’re tinkering with IT equipment, they’re probably neglecting the core activity of the business.
Option 2 is a safe, but over-cautious approach, which isn’t going to do much for the development of the business. In order to survive and prosper, a business needs to move with the times.
Option 3 can have its problems too. A maintenance contract is much like any other form of insurance; the customer pays an annual premium and the insurer will make money by doing or paying out as little as possible in return.
Here’s a little anecdote about IT maintenance contracts:
I remember working for a Head of IT in a fairly large organisation some years ago. He had the bright idea of outsourcing PC desktop support to an external company at a cost of almost £60,000 a year. Sadly, he neglected to ask those of us who actually fixed the faults about the type of problems we encountered. If he had, we would have told him that over 90% of desktop PC problems were software related. The contract he’d signed covered hardware faults only. £60,000 was a hefty price to pay anyway, but to pay it for covering less than 10% of the problems was a disaster. No surprise that he left the organisation shortly afterwards!
So you see, outsourcing your IT support isn’t straightforward and mistakes can be expensive.
Option 4? Well, that’s me. If you rely upon IT systems to run your business, I can help you when things go wrong.
If you’ve yet to computerise, I can help ensure that the systems you choose are an asset to your business, not a risky liability.
I’m happy to pop in for a chat anywhere in or around Cockermouth.
Please give me a call to arrange a date and time.
Here in Cockermouth, it’s refreshingly different.
So what has this to do with PC support services?
Well, I was thinking about how difficult it must be for a small business to take advantage of technology. The big boys can afford their own IT departments, who provide centralised support to all branches. Staff don’t have to worry too much about their IT systems, because there’s always a support person available at the end of a phone.
A small independent business can’t afford the luxury of permanently employed IT support, but there are options:
1. Let the proprietor and his/her staff be part-
2. Don’t use any IT equipment at all, because it’s just not worth the risk to the business if it goes wrong.
3. Take out a maintenance contract with a third party IT company.
4. Build a relationship with a friendly local IT specialist who will provide advice and support when needed.
Option 1 is all well and good if the people concerned have the necessary skills and interest, but when they’re tinkering with IT equipment, they’re probably neglecting the core activity of the business.
Option 2 is a safe, but over-
Option 3 can have its problems too. A maintenance contract is much like any other form of insurance; the customer pays an annual premium and the insurer will make money by doing or paying out as little as possible in return.
Here’s a little anecdote about IT maintenance contracts:
I remember working for a Head of IT in a fairly large organisation some years ago. He had the bright idea of outsourcing PC desktop support to an external company at a cost of almost £60,000 a year. Sadly, he neglected to ask those of us who actually fixed the faults about the type of problems we encountered. If he had, we would have told him that over 90% of desktop PC problems were software related. The contract he’d signed covered hardware faults only. £60,000 was a hefty price to pay anyway, but to pay it for covering less than 10% of the problems was a disaster. No surprise that he left the organisation shortly afterwards!
So you see, outsourcing your IT support isn’t straightforward and mistakes can be expensive.
Option 4? Well, that’s me. If you rely upon IT systems to run your business, I can help you when things go wrong.
If you’ve yet to computerise, I can help ensure that the systems you choose are an asset to your business, not a risky liability.
I’m happy to pop in for a chat anywhere in or around Cockermouth.
Please give me a call to arrange a date and time.
