Let’s Give Credit Where Credit is Due

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I have often stated that sales people find the stage; it’s the engineers that put the show on. Sometimes IT engineers get a lot of heat from clients when they call tech support for the product they are working with at the client’s site. Some clients feel that they should not have to pay for the time it took the engineer to talk to tech support. “I could have done that!” they say. Recently I had one client use an example of a lawyer writing up a case. His comment was, “you learn from law school how to write up a case. When you are in business for yourself you don’t call the law school and ask how to do that.” My immediate response was, “No. But just before the lawyer finishes the write up the lawyer goes to the law library and researches all of the pertinent cases that apply. Cases are decided daily across the country and the lawyer needs to find what recent case law there is. You the client pay hourly for that lawyer to do that.” This client immediately switched the conversation to another subject.

It is a fact that IT engineers know how to narrow down (melt down) a problem, decipher the messages and alerts they are seeing, and, technically describe that problem to tech support. Most, if not all, clients don’t have a clue how to describe what they are seeing, can’t melt it down, and, don’t know how to follow steps being described by tech support without creating more problems. A client calling is much more difficult for tech support, and, it takes a lot more of the client’s time, in many cases resulting in more problems.

The second fact is similar in other industries. Manufacturers create patches and updates in part because of issues they become aware of over time. They come to market with a product or a new version of it, and after some time goes by they become aware of security breaches (holes hackers can use to get in), better ways to install or change the product, and/or simply create improvements. Over time the instructions describing how to install and setup a product can and will change. The steps/instructions the engineer knew are changed and the engineer has to call to get the most recent instructions. When encountering a problem the engineer contacts the respective tech support to see if they recommend different steps that THEY, the manufacturer, have recently developed for their product.

IT Engineers deserve a lot more credit. They are trying to provide the best possible service to clients. Just because they had to call Tech Support doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are doing, nor is it the case that the client gets to be relieved of the invoice for that time. I have seen appliance techs have to use manufacturer support and mechanics call in for the latest updates and changes. Just like the lawyer developing a case, IT engineers research the latest updates pertaining to the issue they have encountered. The clients who value the relationship with the engineer and/or their company understand and even expect this step to be performed. IT service providers must interact with manufacturers. Hearing from the field is one way manufacturers learn of issues that exist and it helps them better their product. Can you imagine what the client would say if they were to find out that the first engineer did not contact the manufacturer and a subsequent IT services provider did and solved the problem? In my experience, those clients who are always looking for a way out of paying will automatically question the need for contacting tech support. While I encourage clients to closely review all invoices, this intentionally overbearing scrutiny is unfair, damaging the client/engineer relationship, and a complete waste of everyone’s time. (Not to mention insulting to the integrity of the engineer!) Most likely they don’t value the engineer or their IT service company as a PARTNER and will pay for the cheapest tech support they can get regardless of quality. Like any industry, they will get what they pay for.

Rock on IT Engineers!

Robert Lane
President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT consulting, engineering, hosted and managed support services provider covering the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area.  Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets.  Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

The Cost of the Cloud

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You have heard so much about “the cloud” and you probably don’t know exactly what that means but more importantly you have heard that it can save you time, which can equate to money, and money. Let me tell you what we see in the field.

As IT consultants to small & medium businesses we help them utilize what they have as well as discover what new technologies they can employ to save time and money. It is true that the cloud is an amazing thing. Here are some quick helpful facts:

  1. If you are thinking of starting a business you can get up and running much faster these days with a lot less capital expenditure. That is extremely helpful in this economy.
  2. The cloud can help you off load some very important services that your company must perform such as backups, email and, depending on what data you generate, database type services as well as financial.
  3. From a disaster recovery/business continuity perspective you can recover from a disaster and continue doing business quickly as your data is off site (like backups, email) and you can simply log in from a new location or system and get your data.

Now let’s talk about the cost. We have seen so many companies pull back out of the cloud mostly due to the cost. Many companies did the math up front and found that for their needs and based on what they had, the service they were looking to use in the cloud was too costly. Here is an example: a company of 10 people has 150 GBs of data that is critical (yes, there is a difference between important and critical data) and that data needs to have a SAS 70 Type II facility (for reasons that would take too long to explain in this article) – IF – they are to store off site. What’s more, they need snapshots of data at intervals of 6 months to be stored. Many cloud backup services don’t have SAS 70 Type II facilities nor do they do 6 month snapshots. They perform rolling 30 day backups meaning that on day 31 the data that was backed up over 30 days ago is gone or copied over. Just like many other companies in the U.S. right now, money is tight and watched like a hawk. Based on the above criteria the cost per GB averages a little over $3.00 so that means that the company would have to pay $450.00 per month for this cloud service. Many would just say, “no”.

Here is another downside. We have seen some small businesses completely outsource all of their software to the cloud (In this case the cloud is basically a company that has a datacenter who owns the software and lets the user “rent” the use of it). This means that the user owns nothing and has nothing on their server and personal systems. You may think it’s a great idea. You would until you encounter the time when you have to be or want to be productive and you have no internet connection. Remember, you need the connection to get to the server that has all of your software which is at the datacenter where all of your software is hosted – the cloud. To do this you have turn on your computer, log in, connect to the internet, log in to their server, open up the application and start working. (So much for quick productivity!) Since, in this instance, there is no internet connection AND since you have no applications on your personal system you cannot simply turn on your personal computer, log in, open the app and start typing.

What should you do? You want to take your time when making decisions about the cloud or any outsourced services. If you don’t have the time or the knowledge to research what you need find a consultant who can not only research the latest services out there but who also may be able to provide them to you. The reputable ones will research with you what you have, your needs, your budget and make the appropriate recommendations. For example, off site backups may be too expensive but hosted email – a perfect fit.

Hope this helps.

Robert Lane

President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT consulting, engineering, hosted and managed support services provider covering the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area.  Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets.  Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

Best Information Source When Buying IT Products & Services

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When the time comes to purchase IT products and services where do you get the best nonbiased info? Great question huh? Well, let me ask you this: when you decide to buy a car, and you have narrowed it down to 2 or 3, how do you make the final choice? Best answer: you go to a mechanic and ask, “Which one of these do you see the least?”

Let’s build the scenario. Your company needs to upgrade its network including the server and some end-user computers. Of course any reseller, VAR (Value Added Reseller), integrator, whatever, that is authorized in just one manufacturer is going to push that product. They will tell you why they chose to sell that brand, why it is the golden challis, and how it is the best in breed for some reason that is unclear. Is that unbiased? No! A mechanic in a gas station is a service provider. The gas station doesn’t sell cars (at least not the gas stations I know). Therefore, the mechanic is a great source since he/she just services cars – almost all cars, all day, every day. The mechanic will tell you what they see less of, what major problems they work on in reference to the choices you have, and, will offer their personal choice based on your needs.

In reference to IT, you want to find a technical services provider, one that provides the IT technical services that the product you will be buying would need. For product these services cover managing servers, switches, end user machines, firewalls, routers, et cetera. If the provider sells hardware then ask if they are authorized in more than one manufacturer for that type of product. The engineers will tell you what they work on less, what major problems they see the most of at other sites, and, based on your needs what they think would be the best choice.

By services I mean voice and data lines, (telephone & internet to your office) hosted and managed services; and any service that you buy directly from a major (Tier 1) provider. Our engineers tell our clients which services they see the least problems with when working on site, which provider gives the biggest bang for the buck and which one has the best support.

Price plays a big role, particularly in these economic times. In every industry there are always one or two brands that are substantially more expensive than the rest. This is where talking to an IT technical service provider is most valuable. They will help you decide whether the more expensive product is the best way to go or not.

Hope this helps.

Robert Lane
President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT technical support services and consulting firm in the Washington DC Metro area. Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets. Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.

The ATI2DVAG Problem

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You’re working away on your computer and all of a sudden you get a blue screen telling you the problem is an ATI2DVAG infinite loop issue, could be hardware but most likely software. You freak out because you have always heard of the “blue screen of death”. NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK. I went through this. Here is what happened and how you can fix it. One thing is for sure – you have an ATI video card and driver in your computer.

The issue could be that somehow your computer improperly loaded a driver (software) so that it has two versions of the same driver. Therefore, as the system sends a signal to display images it goes into an infinite loop from one driver to the other and back. The first time I got this was right after I bought a new HP 6830 notebook. Within 2 months I got the first blue screen. When I called HP support the tech in India told me to load the operating system disc and use the OS repair feature. Absolute mess. This futile attempt messed up my OS so badly that I had to wipe the drive and reload everything – again – from scratch. Two months later it happened again. This time I had my call elevated to a manager who told me that he was simply going to reinstall the driver. It only took about 30 minutes and everything seemed fine. Two months later it happened again. This time HP reloaded the driver AND had me set the Updates process to manual so that I could read each update before accepting. If any of the updates pertain to ATI or video then I was told to skip them. Things were fine for about 4 months. Then it happened again. By now I was not a happy camper.

Even though my company, ASE Inc., is an IT Network Support services provider (great plug, huh?) I didn’t want to bother my engineers as they need to stay billable and focus on the clients. By now I was so mad that I asked my team what they thought. Every one of them came back with, “it’s the motherboard, the chip on the motherboard.” I called HP and demanded that my motherboard be replaced. After looking at my history they agreed and dispatched a technician with a new motherboard early the next day. It took the tech about 30 minutes. The tech was great and the problem was solved.
A few things to think about. First: when I searched the web for ATI2DVAG I saw some postings describing the problem and stating that I could download a utility that would solve it. Don’t do that. The sources on the web can be worse than the problem you have. Second: in my opinion, stay away from the OS repair. As shown above, doing that caused me six more hours of problems and the real problem took only thirty minutes. Last, sometimes it can be the hardware even though you may think it has to be just software. As one person said, it could be as simple as one of the chips not acting the way it should.

Hope this helps someone.

Robert Lane
President/Owner
ASE, Inc.
Getting you ready for tomorrow today
703-273-8388 ext 111

ASE, Inc. is an IT consulting, engineering, hosted and managed support services provider covering the Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC area. Since 2000 ASE has focused on providing full outsourced IT department services to small and medium businesses as well as providing senior level expertise designing, installing and managing complex databases and network security consulting to very large entities in both commercial and federal markets. Call ASE today – 703-273-8388.