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We're already offing hosted email - via VMware Zimbra that does everything that Exchange does. Management overhead is 10% of Exchange, it's far less expensive, and most important, it works with Outlook in MAPI mode. We;re also hosting our own online backup. Both of these services were easy to set up and have been rock-solid in therms of relibility. When there is a problem, I can go to the server and correct it, rather then sit on hold with someone else.
I've had Evolution (on Linux) hooking up to Exchange in MAPI mode, it was sweet. But Microsoft would break it with Exchange updates on a regular basis.
How safe are you from the Redmond thugs pulling the same crap on the client end?
How safe are you from the Redmond thugs pulling the same crap on the client end?
I work a regular job and part of that involved dealing with Exchange. It requires some maintenance, but the really hard thing is fixing it when it breaks. It normally takes hours, and even the better part of a day. "On the side" I've also had a hobby server, and that runs qmail and vpopmail; basically a typical Unix mail server. This also requires maintenance, but the main difference is, with some average sysadmin and scripting skills, you can fix most problems so they stop happening (or are managed).
Overall, I'd say the hobby server's taken a lot less work, has had decent uptime, and has moved as much mail as the Exchange server, and has had more accounts and forwarding addresses on it -- over a hundred on Unix compared to around 25 on Exchange. It even ran mailing lists with between 5 and 15,000 addresses. And this is qmail, which can be pretty arcane. Postfix and Exim4 appear to be easier to run. Zimbra is built on top of Postfix.
The main edge Exchange has is the calendaring.
Overall, I'd say the hobby server's taken a lot less work, has had decent uptime, and has moved as much mail as the Exchange server, and has had more accounts and forwarding addresses on it -- over a hundred on Unix compared to around 25 on Exchange. It even ran mailing lists with between 5 and 15,000 addresses. And this is qmail, which can be pretty arcane. Postfix and Exim4 appear to be easier to run. Zimbra is built on top of Postfix.
The main edge Exchange has is the calendaring.
Don't ever, ever, ever offer to repair a corrupted Windows system. I've lost my bony arse removing a problem and having fifteen others arise.
OTOH, I have turned a few easy 100 dollar jobs offering to save documents and pictures, wiping/reinstalling Windows, and reinstalling software. Thanks to a USB hard drive interface and a Linux home PC, I usually get the whole job done in an hour or two (while I'm multitsasking).
Never,ever try to fix a sick Windows system. You'll get filthy, and it annoys the pig.
OTOH, I have turned a few easy 100 dollar jobs offering to save documents and pictures, wiping/reinstalling Windows, and reinstalling software. Thanks to a USB hard drive interface and a Linux home PC, I usually get the whole job done in an hour or two (while I'm multitsasking).
Never,ever try to fix a sick Windows system. You'll get filthy, and it annoys the pig.
I guess it all depends on the firm, but if you limit yourself in to many ways it just sounds like you don't want to work, and that isn't good. Of course many firms have a specialty, but many aren't so lucky to be able to turn down work. I find that by creating partnerships with the companies that do some of the no-no's above you can still earn a few dollars offering a product that is already tested and working, but you offer some of the front end basic support. People love being able to deal with one IT company and strategic partnerships can provide that.
I don't know whether the phrase "Jack of all trades" translates well in the US but, here in the UK, we are burdened with IT firms that claim to be able to do everything ....and so they regularly disappoint and give us all a bad name. Sometimes we should all turn work down (or, better still, recommend a good specialist) so that we can maintain our reputation. Making sure that I do what I'm good at means that all of my new work comes from referrals from happy clients - I don't spend a dollar on advertising.
I think most of us in the U.S. quote it as Jack of all trades, master of none. I try to keep in mind that most citizens of our fair country are quick on the draw when it comes to filing lawsuits and are careful of what we offer in terms of service. My wife has a client that has an older PC that's running slow and wanted to know if I could fix it. I told her to ask the client how old the system is. If it's more than five years old I told her to have her client to replace it. From my conversation with my wife, I picked up a vibe that it was probably a PC that was running Win 95/98 and that was manufactured in the mid-90's.
I'm not saying take all work. But only working in one very niche speciality isn't an option for all IT Firms. Someone has to practice general it services, and have lots of partnerships with other speciality IT Firms. Just like there are General Primary Care Physicians, and there are specialist. Sometimes the Generalist can take on someone as a client, know they can't meet all of the clients needs, but work with a partner who can. Customers like having a single point of contact for IT, so even though no firm no matter how small or large can do it all; we can still keep and gain customers by working with specialist outside the firm.
This sounds like logic in the same vein as ignoring the horseless carriage market 100 years back. I could be biased--it just so happens that I and virtually everyone I know relies on their smartphone more than their PC.
Sorry Jack, have no idea where you came up with you list. Seems like a list of things you personally do not want to do but that has nothing to do with their ease of completion nor profitability.
I do agree to stay away from payment plans unless you have a relationship with a finance company.
We successfully exchange laptop screens and after you do a half dozen or so they are all pretty much the same. It is a nice profit center for us. The same is true of smart phone support. 15 minutes work and $89 profit.
The fastest growing profit center in the last five years has been home theater and surround sound installation and support. If Bestbuy can do it, usually individual IT technicians can do it better.
I do agree to stay away from payment plans unless you have a relationship with a finance company.
We successfully exchange laptop screens and after you do a half dozen or so they are all pretty much the same. It is a nice profit center for us. The same is true of smart phone support. 15 minutes work and $89 profit.
The fastest growing profit center in the last five years has been home theater and surround sound installation and support. If Bestbuy can do it, usually individual IT technicians can do it better.
I've vocally disagreed with many of Jack's article's, but in my opinion this is a good one. I agree with pretty much every item on the list. Most of them are:
* Fiddly
* Require a lot of investment in either infrastructure, or spare parts
* Low profit margin
* Have a higher level of risk than most other IT tasks
* Fiddly
* Require a lot of investment in either infrastructure, or spare parts
* Low profit margin
* Have a higher level of risk than most other IT tasks
Anything to do with ATT Uverse -- you will loose your shirt trying to get tech support for anything but the simplest issues with these folks. Horrible
Tony_Scarpelli, I think that Jack's list is pretty sensible. I've changed laptop screens in the past but now prefer to pass that work on to a local laptop repair specialist - it's a job that looks really easy but every one seems to be different to the last and, if this isn't something that you do regularly, finding the right replacement screen may be a challenge.
We're offering our own hosted services and I have to say that it's a good way to make great margins (whilst simultaneously getting your small business clients a better deal) without having to leave the office. But Jack is right - it takes a lot of planning and, if you don't have the right resources, it's likely to go wrong pretty quickly. My advice: Get your servers and DSL lines in place first and then see if you can run your own business across the Internet back into your hosted servers. If you get fed up with it being slow or unreliable, then you can guarantee that your clients will too!
We're offering our own hosted services and I have to say that it's a good way to make great margins (whilst simultaneously getting your small business clients a better deal) without having to leave the office. But Jack is right - it takes a lot of planning and, if you don't have the right resources, it's likely to go wrong pretty quickly. My advice: Get your servers and DSL lines in place first and then see if you can run your own business across the Internet back into your hosted servers. If you get fed up with it being slow or unreliable, then you can guarantee that your clients will too!
I can name a few companies who by Virtue of the fact that they did sell Hosting, Microsoft, put them in the ideal position to then customise SharePoint, Dynamics, and in my case I created a backup solution for a 3rd Party Exchange Service which I sell.
Offering to Host Exchange is one of the only ways to retain SME customers, And SharePoint. Are you suggesting leaving the biggest group of prospects out of a consultant's business plan?
Offering to Host Exchange is one of the only ways to retain SME customers, And SharePoint. Are you suggesting leaving the biggest group of prospects out of a consultant's business plan?
I don't think he's saying "don't sell hosted Exchange or SharePoint", he's saying "don't host the services youself". Office 365 is cheap. It's a professional service, it's spread across multiple locations, it's got big fat pipes, automated failover, redundant power sources, proper cooling, backup systems etc etc. Sure, anyone can put Exchange on a little old server in the corner and sell hosted Exchange for cheaper. It's all good until the power goes out to your building, or until the machine needs a new motherboard, or you realise the backups you've been religiously taking don't want to restore.
It's not that you can't do it, it's that it takes a lot of resources to do it properly. And if you don't do it properly you're gambling your companies reputation.
Remember too, he didn't say "don't ever do this". He said "think carefully before doing it".
It's not that you can't do it, it's that it takes a lot of resources to do it properly. And if you don't do it properly you're gambling your companies reputation.
Remember too, he didn't say "don't ever do this". He said "think carefully before doing it".
Got a call last week from a gentleman wanting to know if we serviced HP printers. The company I work for does not - but as he was also a "road warrior" and was looking for someone to work on a client's printer, I suggested that since the printer model (LaserJet 5000) was one with which I was familier, I might be able to help on THIS one. I asked what the specific problem with the printer was, and he told me his customer wanted someone to hold a service contract on the printer. I was literally floored to think that anyone could even imagine that a firm would actually agree to a service contract for a printer that was introduced in 2002. End of life, limited parts availability... even though the printer is a cinch to work on, a losing proposition no matter how you look at it. I suggested that the guy tell his customer to buy a new printer and get an extended warranty on it.
Back in 2002, printers were still made to last. I could (almost) see a business owner keeping a reliable old warrior alive, especially if it was beneficial tax-wise.
But your point is well taken.
But your point is well taken.
Offering a Service Contract on it with everything that goes along with that is a completely different matter.
The Printer Makers don't offer Service Contracts over 5 years and that's on the High End Stuff anything smaller and you're lucky to get any form of Service Contract and absolutely none after 5 years.
If the actual Maker will not support something older than 5 years that's got to tell you something.
Col
The Printer Makers don't offer Service Contracts over 5 years and that's on the High End Stuff anything smaller and you're lucky to get any form of Service Contract and absolutely none after 5 years.
If the actual Maker will not support something older than 5 years that's got to tell you something.
Col
No payment plans. However, we frequently work with third party leasing companies. We get our money up front. We partner with other vendors for Hosted Exchange and Remote Backpup. Let them be responsible for the equipment, redundancy, and backups. We frequently do laptop screen replacement, printer repairs (business printers not small inkjets), home theatre, and home networking. We also troubleshoot video surveillance systems to some extent. Small IT businesses tend to have their hands in many different areas to support their customers.
Though I disagree RE: hosted Exchange and Hosted Backup. If you know what you're doing setting up a business based on either is as easy and spinning up new AWS instances. Set up a monthly fee that covers the cost of EBS and/or Glacier plus the cost of staffing and a little more for profit and away you go...
True indeed, but (especially for home theaters) the more you work, the more money you get and the more people you meet. Important especially for beginners and/or italians having no job 
I work for a major U.S. supermarket. Out of the 10 things listed above, I think we do Exchange, backup, smartphones, and HIPPA in-house (there may be consultants involved with HIPPA). All the rest are done by contractors and each contractor usually specializes in ONE of these items ... maybe two, but no more.
As for home, I had a licensed electrician wire my house w/ CAT 5 (gigabtye ethernet for home didn't seem relevant 8 years ago), and if I were to have home theater installed, I would again go with a licensed contractor. Probably a home theater specialist. If something is worth hiring out, it is worth hiring the right professionals.
As for home, I had a licensed electrician wire my house w/ CAT 5 (gigabtye ethernet for home didn't seem relevant 8 years ago), and if I were to have home theater installed, I would again go with a licensed contractor. Probably a home theater specialist. If something is worth hiring out, it is worth hiring the right professionals.
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