Fud Buster Friday #6 Cheap is NOT a good option for IT

Sorry this is late in the day, but I'm on the West coast for a client this week.

IS price the answer?

As a parallel thought, I rented a car today at Sacramento airport. Now, of the 5 or 6 rental companies, only one had a huge, long, snaking line of people waiting to get a car and guess which one I was in, Budget.

Note to Budget, if people make a reservation, you should have their keys and car ready for them when they arrive.

What was the reason for the long line? The people at the desk(3 of them) were helpful, kind and doing the best they could.

All I could think about was everyone must have gotten some deal this weekend on Budget. So they all flock there.

Now, businesses sometimes act the same way. And maybe if they see their IT as a rental car then they get what they deserve.

What if the business says we have a highly valued partner to help us make money so why would we take an alternative product which is cheaper and less practical or inferior from a technology perspective? They would probably use Hertz.

Money, is never the issue when working on a big project. Do you think someone really cares if there is an extra $100K to a 10 or 15 Million project? They expect it to go over budget anyway, by 10%.

I know it is money and it does have value, but so does your IT infrastructure and you should treat it with the respect it deserves.

As for Budget, maybe they made some money this weekend, maybe not, but if you are constantly trying to spike your sales, the road gets bumpy, plan your pricing and projects smoothly and think ahead.

Exchange isn't free if you need to buy more hardware for every office just so they have email because of it's inferior way to handle network routing.