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Changing IT service companies

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by bandwidth hog 1 view

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I recently quit my full time gig and started my own IT consulting company. I have been approached by a few different people that are not happy with their current solution provider.

I would like some feedback to discuss a few different things.

First, in both of these situations, the people they are currently using are the ones that implemented the network as it is now. What can I do in order to ease the transition from the old service company to me? Is it best to take the "hostile takeover approach" where I basically go in and change all the passwords and reset all the equipment before notifying the old company...

Or, is it better to try to work with the old company? Obviously if the old company would cooperate, this would be the easier solution.

What should I expect from the old service company? What are their legal and ethical responsibilities?

Second, is it ethical for me to intrude on someone else's territory like that? My opinion is that if someone is unhappy with their current service, and they seek you out, then it should be OK. Whereas if I was to just go in and try to underbid a company that the client is happy with.. Thats what I would consider un-ethical.

Does anyone who has been through things like this in the past have any input or feedback? I have done a lot of searching on the internet thinking I would find discussions or articles regarding this topic, but I havent had any luck. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.

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by hal 9000

Your only option is to change everything over before the old Provider gets wind of what's going on.

Depending on how the Business Agreements are structured this can be difficult particularly if they pay a monthly retainer and depending on any Contracts that are signed between the two companies can help muddy the waters quite a lot.

But basically if any company is unhappy with the Service Work being provided they are entitled to walk away from that provider and take on a new Service Provider as often as they like.

But expect to do some cut rate work initially till you come to grips with how the system has been setup. Most times you'll spend quite a lot of time finding out how something works and why it was setup the way that it was. Things get even worse if you walk in part way through a new installation where everything has been setup but not finished off properly like Cables hanging out of walls and the like where the cable puller had run the cable ad then walked out saying that they would be back and 10 weeks latter had not returned or even so much as called the business to tell them what was happening.

One time when I got called in to finish off one of those messes I spent 4 weeks fixing everything up and supplying the necessary software and just as I finished the original supplier walked back in the door to finish off what they had left. They got their noses out of joint and proceeded to wreck most of the work that I had spent the past 4 weeks performing and complaining that they could have supplied that software.

It took another 3 days to fix up their fixes that where not asked for or required.

Col

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