No offense to your IT guys. Not really sure what you meant. I guess I wish when people said, our IT guys, they sort of qualified them. Someone who is good with computers or someone who has a lot of letters behind their name.
You likely wouldn't go to a John Smith, you would likely go to a John Smith, M.D. or DO, etc. Now granted most Microsoft MVP IT employees don't really like a P2P to work with, but they will.
My IT person (see earlier post on qualifications) always tells me he can't believe the number of doctors who don't hire qualified IT support. His analogy is easy. They wouldn't any more go to a premed student for hypertension than doctors should hire qualified IT. It's not something you can't afford, it's something you can't afford not to have. It's part of the small business just like accounts and leases and the computers themselves.
There are two ways to hire support. Pay as you go and contract. Contract is usually more expensive, but they generally will come out at 3 am and fix it in less than an hour. They can give advice and add to your network. Just to give an idea of the difference is one of the tools my IT guy uses. When he comes over, he doesn't have to unplug every computer and connect it to the server and use a new switch, etc. He just uses his Fluke Networks DTX-1800-MSO 120 DTX 1800 OTDR/LL KIT US Fluke Networks DTX-1800-MSO 120 DTX 1800 OTDR/LL KIT US. This one goes for $26,000 to $30,000. But, he will know the exact number of packets from the switch to the client and back to the switch. He will have an extra modem, router, switch, etc. and pretty much anything you will need on your network. He can detect chatter on the network and cut the end of an Ethernet cable and Box Mounts for RJ45 Ethernet cables. That may be all the problem is for a server or client.
So, if you have this type of IT coverage, your Dell overnight warranty and a call to Microsoft guaranteed to call back within two hours, you are kind of set. Do you know what Microsoft asks you when you call? "They ask if we call within ?? many hours, are you committed to stay until it's fixed. Not that they won't work on your server while you sleep. Sure, it's $257.00, but they WILL fix it. And, if they can't, you get your money back. And, if it is an Exchange issue, once fixed, it is covered for good. Email them back six months later, and they will fix it again.
