Question for IT Consultants

ROTFLandmines

Think I may have posted this thread incorrectly.

shodown

The game is sold not told

ROTFLandmines

Understood, I meant to phrase this more as a question of "hey, i don't want to screw my first client, does anyone have any tips for me? rather than i need exact information. Plus it would be nice to here some success stories.

Mitechniq

Just understand that a RFI will never give you the whole picture. For small clients, it is always best to look at the equipment yourself. That means a logical picture of the network, hardware inventory of all equipment, software purchases and current documentation. This would be done prior to the acceptance of a proposal. How do you charge for services if you don't know what support is required or missing for that matter.


Oh and never ASSUME anything!

ROTFLandmines

Mitechniq wrote: »

Just understand that a RFI will never give you the whole picture. For small clients, it is always best to look at the equipment yourself. That means a logical picture of the network, hardware inventory of all equipment, software purchases and current documentation. This would be done prior to the acceptance of a proposal. How do you charge for services if you don't know what support is required or missing for that matter.

Oh and never ASSUME anything!

Thanks for the information.

To fill you in here is a little back story:
I worked for the client previously and left on good terms. Now that I am setting up shop on my own they want me to come back and maintain the network and computer systems. I have maintained there systems previously so i understand what they are running, but it has been 6 months since that point. I need to meet with the current consultant to pick up information so that there is no down time between maintenance companies. This means i need to ask for any viable information, and at this point besides the admin password and a few other obvious things, I am not sure what to ask them for. That is more or less the purpose of my post. What should i ask them?

As far as payment is concerned I charge an hourly rate, and they pay me for a blocked off period of 30 hours at a time.

Cyberscum

Ok so you started a business and you are asking how to run a business? I am confused…

Maybe it might be a little early for your company to be taking on clients; do you have any site startup processes or policies in place yet? Maybe you can start there. There are many sources on how to effectively do this. The last thing you want to do is promise a client something and royally screw it up, because as we all know that is goodbye business…

Cyberscum

Like others said, start from scratch…like you are setting up a new client you know nothing about. Treat it as your baby and do your due diligence from the start so you don’t miss anything. It will take you time and money, but the client will be happy you did….So will your business.

Aside from all of the “little stuff” (sarcasm) associated with running a business, it is “pretty easy”(sarcasm) and things just kinds "work themselves out" usually (sarcasm)

professionale

have good relationships with ya clients