Spidel Tech Solutions, Inc. - Trend in IT Support

Trend in IT Support

One trend I see, that keeps computer vendors reeling and client businesses confused, is the rate of change in the relative prices of information technology hardware and its related support. In the days of big iron, the hardware purchase price was large compared to annual support contracts. In the last twenty years the numbers have reversed.

The PC revolution promised to obsolete not only the central mainframe but the huge support staff that went along with it. Most people don’t remember that a mainframe had an operator that manned its console 24x7. It had technicians that understood the power distribution systems.

You had others that maintained the disks and tape drives. Printers had maintenance specialists. There were still others for card readers and punches. One or more people did the hardware upgrades and there were groups that performed data migration. But still the annual support paled in comparison to the “machine”.

Now you can buy a new desktop for a couple of hundred dollars that has more processing power than rooms full of computers of the previous era. But what happened to support costs. There are competitive companies that charge 180 dollars an hour for telephone support. This cost could replace the whole desktop system in 2 hours. Support vendors are scrambling to justify their existence to small business operators who see that the whole computer is a throw away if it has problems.

But not so fast. Yes, if a desktop has a problem you could throw it away and get a new one cheaper than the cost to repair it. But will the new one do what you want? Probably not. Though PCs are becoming more easily configurable and more capable out of the box, there are still a host of problems remaining to make it replace its faulty predecessor. Lets make a list. First there is the internetworking which is supposed to just work but at the very least needs to have the security, file and print sharing nailed down. Then there are all the special applications to load. Your data has to be migrated. Finally, the users have to fool with it till it is just the way they like it. Just this time will triple the cost of the hardware and you haven’t used the computer yet.

So how do you decide when to upgrade and when to replace your IT? First you have to understand that the support costs will far exceed that initial price tag. Then you initiate a Service Level Agreement with a provider that will guarantee that your system is always meeting its service objectives. See Service Level Management for how this process works. This will ensure that you are always getting the most value out of your investments.

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