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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Start a Consulting Business: The Right Skills and Knowledge Are Key

Are you looking to start a consulting business? Do you wonder if you will be expected to know everything that could possibly go wrong with your clients’ problems and potential problems?

The fact is, you don’t need to know absolutely everything in order to start a consulting business. And the notion that you would even be able to know everything when it comes to technology is very unrealistic. The following 3 pieces of advice can help you learn which skills and what type of knowledge you need to have to start a consulting business the right way.

  1. Understand the Balance Between Technical Skills and People Skills. In order to successfully start a consulting business, you need to be really well organized, friendly and someone that enjoys helping other people. Focus on being resourceful and not just a technical genius. When you try too hard to be a technical genius as you build your client base, you can hold yourself back. Computer consulting is about communicating with people and building real relationships. If you have strong technical skills but still need some help working a room, you can get better at socializing, networking, and schmoozing with practice.
  2. Find Out If You Have the Right Skills. How do you know if you have the right technical skills and business skills to start a consulting business? First of all, don’t let lack of certifications hold you back. Advanced technical certifications are not important to the average non-technical small business owner or manager. You can do very well without ever selling to companies with an IT director. Focus on your ability to build strong relationships and solve real business problems with sophisticated IT solutions. You will do just fine without racking up a lot of certifications that will probably be overkill when it comes to working with most small businesses.
  3. Remember that Small Business Owners Want Total Business Solutions and Complete Accountability. Typical small business owners and managers are not looking for just credentials or technical skills. They are buying you and your business expertise. They are buying your comprehensive business solutions and the security of engaging with a consulting business that knows how to work with other companies like theirs.
In this brief article we talked about 3 tips that can help you as you start a consulting business. To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on how to Start a Consulting Business now at http://www.StartConsultingBusiness.com
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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Technology Assessments: A Checklist

As a computer consultant, technology assessments are an important part of your sales cycle. These assessments help gauge your new customers' needs, so you can develop comprehensive solutions and strengthen future client relationships.

The following checklist can help you get started fast with your technology assessments, so you can easily and rapidly create an appropriate, semi-customized plan for each and every new customer.

  1. Physical Security. Make sure the right physical controls are in place to secure all servers, networking and telecommunications equipment to prevent unauthorized access.
  2. Logical Security. Ensure that appropriate software security controls are in place so you can prevent viruses and unauthorized data access.
  3. Logistical and Environmental Controls. All technology assets have to be housed in facilities that offer the right environmental conditions – temperature and dust regulation, furniture, racks and physical equipment organization.
  4. Configuration Management. Ensure systems are installed and configured according to established requirements and standards.
  5. Systems Administration Procedures. Security systems and administrative procedures need to be well-defined and assigned to specific staff members.
  6. Hardware Inventory Management. You need to make sure all hardware is properly inventoried and that the warranty and maintenance records are diligently updated and tracked.
  7. Software Licensing. Make sure all software usage complies with licensing agreements and that these records are well-maintained.
  8. Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Procedures. Data backups must be made and tested on a regular basis so that important information can be recovered in case of systems failure, data loss or any other disaster.
  9. Documentation. You must make sure that systems, procedures and policies are well-documented and regularly updated. Also, make sure that your clients maintain systems reports, error logs, help desk records, and other related problem logs.
  10. Performance and Capacity Planning. All systems must perform according to required levels. Think about uptime, system availability, bandwidth, data storage and archiving older data files.
  11. Change Management. You need to be sure that all major changes are documented, tested and verified before they are implemented.
In this article, we introduced you to a short checklist that can get you started faster with your technology assessments for small business customers. To learn more about how you can get great, steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free tips on how to sell more Technology Assessments now at http://www.technologyassessmentsecrets.com/TechnologyAssessmentSecrets.com



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