Have you ever considered starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant? If you have the skills for maintaining a small business network, then I sincerely believe you should!

Whenever small businesses are looking for ways to maintain their network systems, they have several choices available to them. They can hire a dedicated, full-time network administrator. They can have a tech-savvy employee double as their in-house tech. Or they can outsource their needs to a Managed Service Provider, IT Support company or they can hire an Independent Computer Consultant.

In today's market, the Independent Computer Consultant represents the best solution for meeting the support needs of a small business client. I firmly believe that any computer professional with a skill-set for maintaining a small business computer network should strongly consider starting a small business as an Independent Computer Consultant.

In the early days of IT support, the break-fix, hourly-rate service model was the primary way for providing outsourced support. The customer would wait for a system to fail, they'd call the computer consultant to come out and fix it, he'd mail an invoice, and the process is repeated over and over again.

Isn't it obvious why this support model puts the needs of the computer consultant directly at odds with the needs of the customer?

The customer generally views the computer consultant as and unwanted expense. If the consultant is called on-site to the customer, it's probably because something is broken, which is costing the client money - both in lost productivity and for whatever the repair costs may be. When using the hourly-rate billing model, it's natural for the customer to want to see the consultant as infrequently as possible.

This works directly against the needs of the computer consultant, who's simply trying to work enough hours each day to make an income, without spending so much time at the customer site that the client wants to find another, cheaper solution.

If the hourly-rate model is a lose-win scenario (the more the client experiences pain, the more money the consultant charges), how can a business model be created where both the consultant AND the client are satisfied in the relationship?

The Computer Consultant Wants:

• To make a consistent, reliable salary.
• To have a very high level of job security.
• To be able to learn and be challenged by new technology products.
• To keep things interesting by working with a varied group of customers and technology systems.
  
• To work reasonable hours and enjoy a balanced work and home life.

The Customer Wants:

• They want their systems to work consistently and reliably.
• They want minimal downtime.
• They want to eliminate problems from occurring.
• They want immediate response when a problem arises.
• They want small problems found early, before larger issues can develop.
• They want their computer consultant to be able to fix problems remotely, providing instant support.
• They don't want any surprisingly large invoices.
  
• They want current hardware and software systems.
  
• They want a computer consultant who is familiar with and understands their systems and their technology needs.
• They want to have confidence that their computer consultant is able to maintain their network and will help them to make good choices for future growth.

By looking at the list of what the client wants, it's clear to see what the computer consultant needs to provide:

System Monitoring
Helps ensure minimal, unexpected system failures
Helps to find problems early
Can provide Asset Inventory reports

A Help Desk
Provides for instant response to service requests
Allows for instant remote computer support for end-user support needs
Provides for working on server related issues immediately

Personal Attention
Clients want a dedicated consultant - not a different face each time a service call is made

Low Cost
They're not always looking for the LOWEST rate available, but small business customers will expect a fair and competitive rate.

The MSP support model is designed to address the above client needs by using the technology available today to support larger numbers of customers, requiring fewer internal resources to do so.

The emergence of today's inexpensive or even free utilities providing remote monitoring, proactive maintenance and remote computer support for both desktops and server systems has paved a way for those computer technicians searching for the means for starting a small business of their own to enter the market without the need for huge amounts of start-up funding.

The low-cost utilities available today now help IT support professionals to serve their clients faster, more efficiently and at a lower, more predictable cost than was ever possible under the old, hourly-billing support model.

With small business support becoming easier and cheaper to provide, many well funded support providers are now competing for this lucrative market. As larger companies continue to expand and as current market leaders in providing small business technology products, such as Microsoft, Dell, CDW, etc. enter the small business Computer Support market, it can seem inevitable that the Independent Computer Consultant is nearing extinction...

I couldn't disagree more!

There is not a single item that today's small business customer wants that YOU, as an Independent Computer Consultant cannot provide easily, reliably and at an affordable rate.

• YOU can monitor your customer's systems, identifying and preventing existing or potential problems early.
• YOU can minimize downtime by monitoring system inventories and track performance levels of your customer's equipment and software.
• YOU can provide your customers with real-time service reports, web-based asset inventories and system performance reporting.
• YOU can provide remote computer support to your customer INSTANTLY from any location (providing you have Internet connectivity).
• YOU can provide your clients with the reliability they want from a dedicated consultant who is familiar with their network, end-users and their current and future technology needs.

And you can provide ALL of these items with lower overhead than your larger competitors, which will provide you with greater profitability and terrific growth opportunities!

Because the tools required for providing the necessary proactive monitoring and remote computer support have become so affordable, or even free, there are no longer any major barriers to entry preventing a qualified computer professional from becoming his or her own boss, supporting a small, yet very profitable customer base.

By providing remote system monitoring and computer support, the Independent Computer Consultant is able to move away from the very ineffective hourly-rate service model and over to the much more profitable flat-rate support model.

By charging flat rates for monthly service, the computer consultant is able to measure in advance the exact number of customers that will be necessary to reach a desired income level. Once the consultant is able to obtain a minimal number of startup clients, any and all concern for struggling for enough billable hours in a month necessary for survival is eliminated.

Because this proactive support model is designed to reduce and prevent problems, plenty of time is left in the day for a small business computer consultant with a desire to expand to go out and land even more clients to further grow his or her income level.

By following a support model of flat-fee, proactive monitoring and remote computer support, there has never been a better time for an Independent Computer Consultant to pursue the goal of starting a small computer consulting business of his or her own.