Re: Migrating SBS servers

Anna Clark wrote:
Hi kj:

To date, I have not passed on the cost of a MS or any other support
call. I think the customer pays me for a solution to the problem. If they
wanted to pay MS, they could have called MS themselves. IMHO, not good
form to represent that "I can help you", then bill for
both my service and the cost of the call to MS.

However, a one off engagement, where there is little likelyhood of
repeat business might cause me to explain the options to the business
owner. The option would be for them to continue to engage me at my
very modest rate, AND pay for the support call, or for them to pay me
for the diagnoses, allowing me to go off and do something else, and
for them to call MS and pay for the call themselves. This would be
motivated by the apparent lack of a relationship and the uncertainty
of how this particular business owner would like to deal with his
issue. Not a lot of sense in billing one hour and paying out the
equvilent of four. (or X)
I used to view the MS call as a learning opportunity. Lately,
however, it has not been as much a learning opportunity as a chance
to drink coffee and watch the mouse move. With their reliance on
remote connections they do all the work, and usually without
explanation. I normally try to get them to explain the problem and
its solution, but even in their follow up emails it is sometimes
difficult to figure out what they did and why.
re: shop materials or consumables: I recognize that idea as rags and
solvents and such from an auto repair shop. Don't know how that
applies to us. I once ran into a competitor in the IT business who
added a "delivery charge" to every invoice, even if the customer came
to his shop to pickup whatever it was. Don't like that much either.

All of this is not really relevant to the op's issue. Any business
person is free to make any arrangement he or she chooses with any
other business person. No one holds a sharp pointed or potentially
explosive instrument near your head and forces you to agree. (assuming
this is true) :-)
My contention is that the swing it kit, like your books, magazines,
log me in subscription, etc is a cost of being in the business, and
not a direct cost to the end user. If the op's customer wanted a
swing it kit, he should purchase it. But that means that the op
would not have it, and unless the eu agreed to let him use it (a
violation of the break the seal agreement), the op would not be
privileged to some very useful information.
One could argue, I supose, that IF this ONE case is the ONE and ONLY
time, and IF the customer agreed, and if it would really save the
customer money in total, (less down time, no visiting the
workstations, etc), that the billing of the cost to the customer
might be justified. In the same way that I might ask for plane fair
if I was hired to travel to another state to perform some IT magic. But by
special agreement, and in this case the work could not be done
any other way. But if one is honest with oneself and ones
customers, would you refund half the cost if one ever got another
engagement to migrate an AD? And for how many iterations?
One of the things about IT support that is very interesting is the
lack of regulation. There is no organization, even a voluntary one
that I know about, that establishes any rules or even standards for
who can be in the IT Support business. When I consider that a
"hairdresser" has to go to school and be licensed by the state to
cut my hair, but that anyone willing to stroke the keyboard can deal
with the potential loss of millions of dollars of company info, I
wonder why we don't have some self policing industry group to
establish standards for IT support.
On the other hand, the lack of such regulation is in part some of the
attraction. :-)

I see your point and I agree that passing on incurred costs that are a
greater benefit to the consultant (learning) than the customer is bad form.
On the other hand, I do not represent to my clients that I can solve any and
all problems in the most expedient manner possible. MS Support calls for a
remedial issue (not caused by my actions or inactions) would be recommended
to the customer at the time as well as the expectation that the costs will
be passed on. Actions that in my opinion are warranted to expedite the
problem resolution and get the customer back to work. If the resolution
turned out to be something I feel I should have been able to handle, or was
a result of my actions or inactions, then I'd write it off as a cost of the
service.

Our clients don't expect us to personally find/fix every problem that comes
along. They're are quite pleased with quick resolution at a fair price no
matter what internal or external resources need be brought to bear.

If you were to quote a migration at a fixed price, you'd factor in the kit
as a time and money saver, verses doing it the hard way which would incurre
more hours and thus a higher price. So, even factored in to the Invoice, the
customer benefits in a smoother and quicker migration.
But I wouldn't charge repeatedly for re-use of the information, only the
single instance and one time official support from Jeff.

Finally, I don't nickel and dime 'em. You get a new printer nowadays and HP
doesn't include a USB cable. New workstation? Where's that CAT6 cable? I
don't even bother them with the details, but it does show up on the Invoice
as $0.00 I want them to know they are getting something extra of value.

--
/kj


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