Re: question about IT budgets


"Kurt" <kurtl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:12pbncgo6sp9i18@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Enkidu wrote:
JM wrote:

I want to help this company. I really do. And I have the
capabilities and vision to do it. However, I cannot get Management
buy-in. That's why I came here and asked for some perspective
regarding IT budgets. I absolulely must get the company owners to
understand that $3k per month for a 6-month plan is by no means
unreasonable, considering they have no staff IT personnel and that
their network is in shambles from years of neglect and poor
decisions. It's roughly 2.5% of their revenue, which in my
experience is cheap, especially since I can show on paper the ROI on
both hard and soft costs.

This is one incredible situation.

Run as hard and as fast as you can. If you can't get management buy in,
shift somewhere else. There is no future in it, and when it breaks it
will be YOUR fault (in the eyes of management).

Well, that's my advice, anyway.

Cheers,

Cliff


While my brain screams, "Cliff is right!", I also enjoy a good challenge.
One thing Cliff is absolutely right about is convincing them to PAY you
what you're WORTH. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to
convince them that spending a few extra bucks over the next couple of
years will ultimately provide a positive ROI. One of my favorite things to
do is to bring the boss over to some employee's 1998 vintage computer and
have the employee do something that they do all day long as a part of
their job. Then we wait...and wait...and wait for the computer to finally
load the app, the data, and display it for us. Then I ask them how many
hours a week they think they are paying that employee to wait for the
computer! Many times they could buy a new computer and have it paid for in
3 months. After that, the new computer is making them money.

I know what it's like to follow behind a contractor that put together a
company's network with equipment purchased at Staples, computers from some
on-line garage/basement assembler using the cheapest of parts, and 2003
SBS with the full out-of-the-box install even though they don't use
Exchange or SQL. But also remember that the contractor that set it up
probably did it that way because the company wouldn't pay them to do it
right (OK, maybe they didn't know how to do it right). Give them a good
estimate on what it will take to fix it. Allow some headroom for things
that go sour. List EVERYTHING you are going to do. Put in a page for them
to fill out additional things they want you to do and have them SIGN IT.
Then revise your estimate for the additions, and make it clear, both
verbally and in writing, that your estimate ONLY covers the things LISTED
IN THE ESTIMATE! Oh, yeah - get their signature on the revised estimate.

Good luck,

...kurt

Lots to think about there, thank you.

This is important to me - so much so that I'm sitting here on my New Year's
weekend writing, reading, pondering, strategizing, etc. Basically, I share
your affinity for a challenge, and while I am giving a lot of consideration
to the other posters' advice to get out while the gettin's good, I have to
admit that my gut is telling me I can succeed here.

This client is the supreme example of what all of us know to be true: If we
could eliminate irresponsible use of the INTERNET from the business
environment, our jobs would be infinitely less complicated. So after much
reflection, I've decided to focus my "sales pitch" on that issue. We all
know that a bunch of computers connected via decent-quality network
equipment, with Server 2000/2003, with updated XP installations, established
on a solid foundation will work pretty well. It's when you introduce
malware and all the devices/software aimed at combating malware that things
get messed up - at least on the scale of networks we target.

So my proposal will focus on a good AUP, good firewalls, network-wide
server-based AV, Windows upgrades/updates, etc. Then we will move on to the
other stuff.

jm
















.

Relevant Pages