Convincing Management to Migrate to WiFi?

bergeron76 asks: "My company is currently preparing to relocate to a new location out in the suburbs. We recently received a very outrageous quote to move our computers, telephony gear, and ethernet wiring to our new office. I'm trying to convince management to switch our call-center to WiFi for a fraction of the "relocation" quote cost. The problem is that they are still considering outsourcing the ethernet wiring at an exorbitant rate! Can the Slashdot crowd help me come up with more selling points for WiFi (beyond the obvious) before I make my formal proposal?"

Comments

a couple things:

[littlerubberfeet]

1. cost of course
2. It's NEW and INNOVATIVE, its the next high tech thing, and even better, its actually in wide use. (Give Examples, e.g. school mobile laptop labs, other companies, etc)
3. It is stable (Give WOWing statistics on range, etc.)
4. Its secure (128 bit encryption)
5. It is mobile (people can bring their laptops to meetings and be networked)
6. No exhorbiant costs every time the cubicles are re-configured.

These are the main points I would hit on, if I needed to make a sell to my boss, or company. Good Luck. And remember, play to their mentality, and what they like (e.g. Dilbert)

call cisco

[ealar dlanvuli]

The simplest solution to your problem is to let the salespeople sell. Call cisco and get a marketing type on, tell them what you have been quoted, and ask them to come up with a total network quote that's better, then have them present it to the managment. If your even a mid sized buisness I'm sure they can come up with a salesperson to do a meeting with your managment for a hour or two.

You talking to the managment *might* get you somewhere, but your much more likley to get somehwere if you get a professional marketer in there.

Re:Try RTFM

[bellings]

If I had mod points, I would give them to you in a heartbeat.

I have no idea what the original poster considers an "exorbitant" price for wiring. I have a difficult time imagining that doing all the wiring for a bunch of call center fixed phone stations without ethernet is going to be significantly less than doing all the wiring for a bunch of call center fixed phone stations with ethernet. If it is significantly different, the submitter should suggest to the owners that they get additional quotes. If the owner refuses, well... either he's spending his own money foolishly, or there's some type of fraud going on. Time to polish up the resume, I guess.

"Cost" isn't always the "cost" you think it is

[R2.0]

If you are moving to a new location, the PHB's have worked out a deal with your new landlord by which the renovation costs (including network cabling)are covered by the landlord and then amortized through the rent. That way, the costs go on the operating expenses budget and not the capital improvement budget, which both looks better on your balance sheet and is genearally a simpler way to do things.

If you buy all the new WiFi stuff, you have a big hit on your capital budget right up front, and you've purchased equipment that will be obsolete in a short while, which will lead to ANOTHER hit on your capital budget. Copper cables don't wear out, don't break (except for the occasional mis targeted nail), and if you need to lay fiber later, the routing and supports are all there.

It's not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.