With most decisions you have to make in life, the proverbial two-columned list comes in to play. One column lists the "pros" and the other lists the "cons"; all in hopes of being able to properly weigh the benefits and disadvantages of your options in order to reach a final decision. A question/concern has been posed to me on more than one occasion whenever I meet with a prospective client, being an independent consultant. Always being up-front and honest, I go over the "pros" and "cons" from what I've seen in my experience with being on both sides of the fence. In the past, I've worked for a small consulting company, where I headed up a staff of 4 engineers; and I've worked for a larger consulting firm which had over 125 engineers in its heyday. Today I work as an independent consultant, and have been providing full service IT solutions for over 11 years now. Here are some questions posed to me as well as questions that should be asked of any potential IT support provider.

What would happen if you (my sole IT support) were to get hit by a bus?

As an independent consultant, I am one of one and therefore if I'm not available for some reason (sickness, death in the family, on vacation, or yes...even hit by a bus) what would happen when my clients required support? In my situation, this concern is quickly alleviated by my showing the many years of proven track record experience of being responsive to my clients (through client testimonials and references), as well as simply having a solid backup strategy should the time come when my services are needed and I'm unavailable. As Benjamin Franklin said, "well done is better than well said"...So what is my support backup strategy?  

Over the years, I have established relationships in the field with other IT support providers. One is an independent consultant like myself, and the other is a small company that I have worked together with on some projects in the past. I trust both implicitly to handle client requests on my behalf if I'm unavailable, and both have a similar knowledge-base to mine. In the 11 years of working on my own, I have not had to use this backup support plan, but it's always good to know it's there like a safety net for both me and my clients if ever needed.

Yes, I do go on vacation, and have even been out of the country a handful of times over the past 11 years, but I've always communicated this to my clients in advanced, addressed their concerns and immediate needs, and have been reachable by email and phone while away should any emergencies arise. For clients that have a "break/fix" (reactive rather than proactive approach) type of relationship with me, I address these particular issues on an emergency basis at higher rates if an immediate response time is requested, or simply address the work requests upon my return.

Cons with working with a company that has multiple engineers.

How can a company "guarantee" that the individual that you have worked with in the past (not to mention spent time & money on getting him/her/them familiar with you and your IT environment) will be available down the road. In short, they simply can't. A company that has a number of engineers on staff simply can't guarantee the same engineer every time? Think about it...Either the engineer is already working at a client site and can't be pulled, the engineer is out sick, on vacation, or the engineer simply is no longer working for the company. This is all out of the company's control. So this being the case, what happens? The consulting company will assign another engineer to the site, who has to learn the environment and does so on your dime. Unfortunately, this scenario can happen time and time again. I find this relationship with my clients to be imperative and instrumental to understanding the needs & concerns, as well as to making recommendations (both short-term and long-term) in an overall technology plan. When a company makes an IT support call to a consulting company, they don't necessarily reach the engineer who they've worked with in the past and is familiar with their IT environment, but when they call me, they speak to me directly.

What should a company ask a prospective IT support provider?

A company looking for someone to support their IT environment (whether a consulting company or an independent consultant) should ask, at a minimum, the following questions:

•How long have you been providing IT support to companies (the number of years they've been in business)?

•How many clients do you currently support?

•Can you verify that you have a proven track record of being responsible to responding to customers in a timely fashion?

•Can you provide multiple client references/referrals?

All this being said, this is why I personally feel that an independent consultant with extensive knowledge & real-world experience in the field, with solid backup resources, a proven track record, and a number of years in business, is the best fit for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).