Introduction

About 14 years ago my boss and I were talking about technology and where we thought it was and where it is headed.  He mentioned to me that he has always wanted to write a book called I.T.Hostage.  I don't really remember him telling me the topic but I would like to give him credit for the title of my blog.  His name is Todd and his website is www.creativewarehouse.com (shameless plug)  Check him out.

To me, I.T. Hostage is the title itself.  Many small companies become trapped by 2 things:

1.  The Consultant or the I.T. guy-  This guy is doing all the work for the company, charging them an arm and a leg but is not providing the company detailed information of exactly what he/she is doing.  This person disappears one day or gets a job and the company cannot reach the person to get information about their system/network.  The person may have done a great job but the company is later left in the dust.

2.  The Big Company- There are other small firms that cannot afford a full-time I.T. person or a consultant.  So they rely on the big guys.  For example, Dell.  Now I'm not saying Dell is a bad company because I don't, I think they have done some great things for the technology industry to advance it to where we are.  But the representatives that companies talk to oversell what the customer needs.  I can't tell you how many companies I have walked into with a Windows Small Business Server that is running Active Directory and Exchange.   Here are the pitfalls of that...

          A.  Who will support that?  This company did not have any money for full-time support in the first place but you sell them a product that normally needs a full-time administrator?  An admin that normally costs at least 50k a year if you are lucky.

          B.  Should this product break down and an I.T. person had to be called, Where is the documentation for the person to know where to even start?   Where are the passwords?  A good I.T. person always emails the usernames and passwords for anything that he installs.  possibly start a "Tech Bible" for that company.  More money spent on just figuring out where the company stands much less try to fix it.

I will keep writing this blog as long as I am getting followers.  Future blogs will include tips on how to go about managing the technology in your small business.  I will also reveal some of the pitfalls of technologies and how to avoid them.  Stay tuned, I have more to come.