The Role of Systems Integrators with Early SBS
SBS 4.0 was originally tailored to small business end
users. The idea was that small businesses would buy, install, and maintain
their own server with little or no assistance from outside consultants or
systems integrators. However, Microsoft later realized that although ease
of setup and administration would continue to be one of SBS’s strongest
points, systems integrators were driving or influencing nearly all of the
SBS installations.
What kind of background do the “typical” small
business systems integrators come from?
What technical expertise do these systems integrators
bring to the table?
And how did Microsoft retool SBS 4.5 to take this all into
account?
Why Small Business Server Systems Integrators Are SO Different Than
Fortune 1000 IT
Many systems integrators servicing small businesses come
from a Fortune 1000 IT background where they may have been a developer,
database administrator, web content manager, LAN administrator, or project
manager.
Often these former Fortune 1000 IT staffers end up in the
systems integrators world as a result of their department being outsourced
or their company being downsized. Or perhaps, they were fed up with a life
that was starting to resemble the Dilbert cartoon strip.
If you’ve recently entered the systems integrators
business and have never even thought about profitability, partnering,
project management, or service contracts , there’s a wealth
of business training details and templates waiting for you.
Coming from a much larger environment, Fortune 1000 IT
staffers are by necessity specialists. While it is common for the owners
of small business systems integrators to use many diverse skills every
day, big IT organizations usually want staff to pick a distinct career
path.
Consultants for small business systems integrators may
install a firewall at 9am, write a bunch SQL Server queries at 11am, build
a remote access server by noon, and then spend the remainder of the day
teaching an Exchange Server class.
If these same consultants were to take a job with some big
bank, pharmaceutical company, or brokerage firm, those consultants would
be in for a major culture shock. Five different departments handle those
consultants' old daily routine. The consultants' new jobs encompass just
one aspect of one part of the consultants' old jobs.
Systems Integrators in a Totally Different "World"
In sharp contrast, many small business systems integrators
have never seen the inside of a cubicle or heard the terms “reorg” or
“TCO”.
Instead, these systems integrators evolved by owning
retail computer stores. Some of these were former, or still continue to
be, system builders or resellers of branded systems and software licenses.
Several years ago, service margin supplemented these storefront retail
business. Today, service margin is the basis for their bottom line, as
reselling products is barely profitable.
Their major challenge is how to “beef up” (no offense
to the vegetarian readers) their skills quickly enough so that they can
get involved in adding value with solutions based on platforms like SBS.
Regardless of whether their previous IT career was
programming or negotiating the best price on imported motherboards, many
small business systems integrators are new to Windows Server platforms.
Perhaps they’ve had some experience supporting a variant of UNIX or a
NetWare server, but many systems integrators are basically starting from
scratch in terms of their SBS knowledge.
For More Free Small Business Server Consulting Tips
Just click on the banner below and sign up for our
sponsor's free training audio recording.
|
