Six questions to ask a prospective business IT partner |
| 1. | Is the business IT partner a certified partner in solutions and skill sets from industry leaders? |
| | Certified partners from industry leaders are available to help companies of all sizes and industries select and implement the right business technology—and to provide support through future business change. To become certified, they must prove expertise in the technologies and in specific business areas, such as financials, supply chain, enterprise resource planning, information workers, or customer relationship management. |
| We are Microsoft Small Business Specialists and Cisco® SMB Select Certified by having demonstrated before Microsoft® and our industry peers that we have developed competent and customized solutions designed for small and medium businesses. Our business solutions focus in common business areas, but are not limited to; financials, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, mobility, point-of-sale, unified communications, and information worker solutions. Additionally, we have also partnered with Citrix®, Fortinet®, Red Hat®, Acronis®, Trend Micro®, Intel®, and Seagate Recovery Services® to bring the best business practices and technologies directly to our clients. |
2. | Will the business IT partner provide references? |
| | Make sure the partner will supply you with a list of customers in your industry who will answer questions and provide written references to you. If not, the partner is not for you. If the partner does supply a client list, you might want to ask them the remaining questions. |
| We will provide both positive business references form successful relationships, and references from troubled/failed relationships. By referencing the good relationships and troubled relationships, we enable both ourselves with our clients to better predict how we might actively identify potential pain-points, and mechanisms to correct or avoid them. |
3. | Is the partner's business stable? |
| | Find out if the partner is a stable business organization with the technical infrastructure and staff to deploy a solution for your business within your time frame. After the partner implements the business solution, you want to make sure the organization supports your staff to fine tune the system and to address any problems that might arise. |
| We deliver to our clients 11-years of continuous business and industry experience. Our company 2007 annual growth rate was nearly 20% for the calendar year. |
4. | Is the business IT partner an expert in your industry? |
| | You need a partner who demonstrates a clear understanding of your business concerns and your industry, a partner who can draw from extensive expertise with multiple businesses in your industry. Your partner should suggest strategies and develop your business solution with you. |
| Please click here for a list of industry verticals that we currently serve. Local partnering allows us to fortify specific industry verticals by relying on areas our partners who have greater experience serving them. By working closely and together with our local partners and industry partners, we have poured the groundwork for the complete, end-to-end industry specific IT solutions. |
5. | Does the partner clearly consider the features and components you need? |
| | The software solution proposed by the partner should be the right one to address your business requirements. If it isn't, the partner needs to be willing to rework the proposal until you have exactly what you need. For example, does the partner have expertise in working with the database, portal and business intelligence solutions you intend to use? Find out ahead of time about any hidden fees related to revising your solution. |
| All business relationships start with an IT solution assessment. Our assessment is specialized for a variety of industry verticals and common business pain points but retains flexibility for tailoring to your individual needs. Whether simply reviewing hardware acquisition plans, or establishing new infrastructure and line-of-business application, a proper assessment identifies and outlines your business technology needs defining the right solutions. Knowing that every success takes preparation, we believe preparation is crucial to discovering and addressing problems before and during a solution deployment. Our industry and local partnerships reinforce and backup our ability to design and deployment capability. Design revisions are dependent on the project or relationship contract. We deliver truly individual solutions adapted to your specifications. |
6. | Are the partner's consultants technologically proficient? |
| | Make sure the partner uses a proven implementation methodology and configuration tools that speed implementation, configuration, and upgrades. Ask the partner if the person(s) who will implement your solution has been certified by the software vendor on that solution. What kind of certification do they have? |
| | We rely exclusively on vendor and idustry formulated deployment standards, best-practices, specifications, and recommendations. By following standards and specifications, we standardized IT environments creating common ground for coordinating and integrating multiple products and services. All technical consultants are vendor certified in their specific areas. For questions concerning a specific consultant or engineer, please contact us for their current vendor authorized certification transcript. |