Will the Real Computer Consultant Please Stand Up?

The computer consultant looked around the conference room table at us and answered my question about why he was planning on installing, for my prospective client, a Microsoft Exchange Server. He pronounced, “They have Qwest DSL. Qwest doesn’t allow a port 71 Internet connection. Qwest DSL only works for multiple email accounts by installing an Exchange server.”

He added, particularly pleased with himself, “We build the servers ourselves.”

When I reported these statements to two highly respected Tucson computer consultants, they had similar reactions. Ed Schaefer, owner of Better Bytes, remarked with understated sarcasm, “I have a few dozen clients who would be shocked to know that their Qwest DSL hasn’t actually been working all these years.” John Moffatt, president of BetaData, sighed and said, “You know, it still amazes me how much bad advice business owners get from computer consultants.”

Schaefer and Moffatt agreed that bad computer consultants, driven by ignorance, laziness or greed, do major damage to their clients. Moffatt said, “It’s difficult for the average business owner to know their computer consultant’s just wrong.”

Are you getting bad advice? Here are some red flags.

Your consultant builds pc’s for you because, he says, his PCs are better than Dell’s or HP’s. It’s astonishing that otherwise savvy business people can actually believe that a guy in Tucson has, for example, Dell’s hardware and sofrware buying power, plus Dell’s labor costs, quality control and long-term viability.

Schaefer says, “Locally built machines can only compete on price if they’re built with inferior parts.” Moffatt adds, “One local shop I know of paid for only one Windows license and one Microsoft Office license and then installed that software on all the machines they sold to that business. The customer was pleased with the price but doesn’t know the business is illegally using Microsoft and other software, can’t get support for it, and takes the risk of getting sued.”

Your consultant insists you run Microsoft Exchange server and/or Microsoft File Server,but you don’t understand why. Schaefer has over 200 clients, the vast majority of which do not need Exchange server to run their email or File Server to share files. But he has had many clients whose previous consultant sold them those software products as well as the hardware required to run them. Moffatt agrees, saying, “Both are fine products, but the consultant has a duty to client identify a legitimate business need, and the client should be able to tell you in his or her own words why the technology is are needed.”

Your consultant says you need your own Web server. Consultants who try to sell you a web server and its required services are nearly always driven by greed, not by your needs. Out of 10,000 small businesses, perhaps one in 10,000 might justify its own Web server. The others should all let the professional Web hosting companies handle the job. Consider this: even Website design and development firms such as NetOutcomes, managing dozens of Websites, do not own and run their own Web servers in house. Again, in large part it’s an issue of buying power, not to mention 24 x 7 tech support.

Your consultant says, “that software just has a bug in it. There’s nothing I can do.” Both Moffatt and Schaefer have been able to fix problems that previous consultants announced were hopeless. Schaefer said, “sometimes it’s just because the guy was too lazy or too embarrassed to call technical support and ask for help.”

Unfortunately, computer consultants still bamboozle people. What would you say if your consultant announced, “You can’t get Internet access with dynamic IP addresses. We have to upgrade your account and make Qwest provide a fixed ip address for each machine?” For starters, you can ask for an explanation in plain English. You can also call Qwest and get a second opinion for good measure.

Lawyers, doctors, CPA’s, dentists and other professionals must acquire degrees and pass exams. Computer consultants just need to learn a little lingo and snare a client or two. So apply an extra dose of common sense. Check references. Ask a lot of question. Make sure you and your consultant have a plan that makes sense to you. Before you go forth, you may want to get a second opinion.

At the meeting I mentioned above, the company’s trusted computer consultant was looking forward, he said us, to providing them with their own Web server. He smiled and added that they’d build that machine, too. The regular business folks around the conference table smiled uncertainly. One said, “He really takes care of us.” If she’d left out the two words “care of, ” then Moffatt, Schaefer and I could have agreed with her.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Tucson Business Edge, a monthly magazine published by the daily newspaper, the Tucson Citizen.