We acquired a company recently who had an outsourced arrangement... and related to that I have since met a few other outsourcing companies. They all seem to have the same standard model... monthly retainer with dubious stated hours with an unwritten promise that they will do "whatever it takes."
In practice, these folks try as hard as possible to stay to a fixed amount of hours and charge for change requests... not that there is anything wrong with that.
We have seen $130-$150/hr... although I have heard rumors of folks who do it for $75-100/hr in their retainer.
Ideally, someone would give a tiered labor rate based on the skillset (desktop, server, network, security, etc.)
1. Check out the whitepaper by Tom Berray on the different types of CIO's... http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_C TO_4Models.pdf. This should give you some context as to what type of organization you are in. Adapt your mindset to your organization or you'll be unhappy for quite some time.
2. Underlying all of the differences, are these people reasonable? If they aren't, no amount of research will support your effort. If they are, it will work out in the end.
She is sitting next to me now and thinks that she is very good at math. She goes to a special math class because she is so smart. It keeps her very challenged... and she even needs more challenges after that.
Note, I didn't type that... she did (third person).
I only say this because I was told I wasn't good at math and that's exactly when I fell from A's in math (albeit 90.01% kind of stuff) to C's... from 8th grade through grad school.
So, at times I wonder if we just make these statements and that is a bit self fufilling?
I currently work as the CIO of a fairly progressive local government. I personally have always been a fan of "knowledge management" (dating back to my Big Six days when you HAVE to share knowledge from engagement to engagement) but was quite skeptical of "document management." I was wrong.
Our municipality has gone from "we'll get back to you" to "let me look that up in front of you and give you a print out." It saves days. It creates new levels of customer service that were unheard of before the system. It's like before and after the web ("Was there ever a time we didn't have web daddy?" "Yes, that was when I used Compu$erve...")
Also, ask any law firm or insurance firm if they could handle their workflow needs without a DMS...
I'm trying to recall some of the other "great" BBS Door games back in the day. In fact, there was a very, very good BBS system that had "DOOR" in it's name... it essentially was a shell for running 100's of pre-packaged door modules.
So, every colocated server has a system admin checking it?
All servers that were placed up there years ago to host one silly site get checked regularly?
All companies (or individuals) who host sites pay to have them maintained?
All sysadmins are competent and on top of their patches... outside of their regular duties which may include making coffee or sorting mail (depending on the size of the organization)?
There are alot of servers and alot of sites. There aren't alot of "great" admins IMHO. And, often, patches are bundled together when you upgrade a server which may be once EVERY TWO TO FOUR YEARS.
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We acquired a company recently who had an outsourced arrangement ... and related to that I have since met a few other outsourcing companies. They all seem to have the same standard model ... monthly retainer with dubious stated hours with an unwritten promise that they will do "whatever it takes."
... not that there is anything wrong with that.
... although I have heard rumors of folks who do it for $75-100/hr in their retainer.
In practice, these folks try as hard as possible to stay to a fixed amount of hours and charge for change requests
We have seen $130-$150/hr
Ideally, someone would give a tiered labor rate based on the skillset (desktop, server, network, security, etc.)
1. Check out the whitepaper by Tom Berray on the different types of CIO's ... http://www.brixtonspa.com/Career/The_Role_of_the_C TO_4Models.pdf. This should give you some context as to what type of organization you are in. Adapt your mindset to your organization or you'll be unhappy for quite some time.
2. Underlying all of the differences, are these people reasonable? If they aren't, no amount of research will support your effort. If they are, it will work out in the end.
She is sitting next to me now and thinks that she is very good at math. She goes to a special math class because she is so smart. It keeps her very challenged ... and she even needs more challenges after that.
... she did (third person).
... from 8th grade through grad school.
Note, I didn't type that
I only say this because I was told I wasn't good at math and that's exactly when I fell from A's in math (albeit 90.01% kind of stuff) to C's
So, at times I wonder if we just make these statements and that is a bit self fufilling?
Well played ... you beat me to it.
I currently work as the CIO of a fairly progressive local government. I personally have always been a fan of "knowledge management" (dating back to my Big Six days when you HAVE to share knowledge from engagement to engagement) but was quite skeptical of "document management." I was wrong.
...")
...
Our municipality has gone from "we'll get back to you" to "let me look that up in front of you and give you a print out." It saves days. It creates new levels of customer service that were unheard of before the system. It's like before and after the web ("Was there ever a time we didn't have web daddy?" "Yes, that was when I used Compu$erve
Also, ask any law firm or insurance firm if they could handle their workflow needs without a DMS
http://www.tech.purdue.edu/cpt/Information/Plans/C urrent/TNT%20POS.htm
As a (biased) alumni, I think Purdue is a hidden gem. Great reputation, good people, interactive alumni.
OT, but I would kill to get some of those old 60's psas and the dancing candy stuff ...
I'm trying to recall some of the other "great" BBS Door games back in the day. In fact, there was a very, very good BBS system that had "DOOR" in it's name ... it essentially was a shell for running 100's of pre-packaged door modules.
Anyone? Bueller?
So, every colocated server has a system admin checking it?
... outside of their regular duties which may include making coffee or sorting mail (depending on the size of the organization)?
All servers that were placed up there years ago to host one silly site get checked regularly?
All companies (or individuals) who host sites pay to have them maintained?
All sysadmins are competent and on top of their patches
There are alot of servers and alot of sites. There aren't alot of "great" admins IMHO. And, often, patches are bundled together when you upgrade a server which may be once EVERY TWO TO FOUR YEARS.
Reality folks.