Getting Started With IT Consulting in Orlando
Before you can figure out if an IT consultant would be beneficial to your company and IT roadmap, you need to understand what makes an IT consultant so valuable to a company, what they do, and how they differ from one another. When you are searching for IT Consulting in Orlando, you will notice there are a lot of options to choose from, but most do not have the expertise or experience you are probably looking for.
What is an IT Consultant?
A very general definition of an IT consultant is an individual that provides advice, guidelines, and a roadmap for sourcing, utilizing, and managing IT assets and resources. An IT consultant will provide your business with best practices for obtaining, configuring, and using IT solutions, services, and resources in ways that help solve your operational problems.
Not all IT consultants have the same work experience therefore which IT consultant you choose will vary depending on the IT problem you are facing. Secure Packet for example has over 100 different IT consultants on our list to pull from depending on what complex IT solution you are facing. Secure Packet primarily utilizes a handful of these since the majority of IT problems our clients are facing are usually around the same normal type issues like VoIP, Cloud Hosting, Microsoft M365, website hosting, WordPress development, cyber security needs, and the normal operational needs like desktops, laptops, tablets, etc. If, for example, a client needed complex enterprise-level Salesforce consulting, Secure Packet would utilize one of our less utilized consultants that specializes just in Salesforce consulting for enterprises as the majority of our small and midmarket customers utilize more normal Salesforce or CRM-type solutions.
Being able to leverage some of the best IT consultants in the industry and around Orlando, FL will allow you to streamline your operations while freeing up precious man hours that can focus on pushing your company forward and not wasting those man hours on repetitive and time-consuming tasks. This type of value can be applied to every department in your business such as accounting, research and development, operations, and especially sales and marketing. Most SMBs do not have experience or a full understanding of what some IT services can do to help with reporting, workflows, and overall customer and employee satisfaction. If you have the ability to see what is working for your team and what are causing issues, this is some of the most valuable data points you can have as a decision maker which will allow you to optimize your business even further. If your team starts to win more and more clients are coming in while being happier then it is a win/win while also boosting morale for your entire company.
Which IT Consultant Should I Go With?
This question is a very vague question and highly dependent on what issues you are facing. It is like asking someone what car you should buy without any other additional details about your life, family situation, or income. The same is true with IT consulting and finding the right IT consultant to solve your needs. There are two great starting points which are first to outline all the outstanding issues you are facing that you want or at least hope IT can help solve while also reaching out to local IT consulting companies to get their feedback. Let’s use Secure Packet as an example, we specialize in Cloud computing, on-premise data center needs, web hosting, cyber security, compliances, and more so for the most part we would have your problems covered. If your primary concerns are legacy Oracle databases, which is one example from a customer in Orlando, then we would work with you to find another IT consultant to fit your needs since Secure Packet doesn’t specialize nor has anyone on staff with end-of-life Oracle databases currently as it is not a popular request.
What to look for in your first interactions with an IT Consulting Team
How your IT consulting team responds within the first few interactions will tell you everything you need to know to narrow down the field of consultants. Only you can be the judge on if this new IT consultant will fit what you are looking for. Some of the questions to keep in mind are below.
- How timely are they to respond via phone call or email?
- Are they responding truthfully to your questions or are they just trying to close a deal?
- Do they specialize in the areas you need the most help with?
- Do they have first-hand experience with dealing with the issues you need the most help with?
- Do they have a plan in place to help with areas they do not specialize in?
- Does their billing model fit your budget and your needs?
- Do they offer any other services outside of consulting that will help simplify your overall IT experience?
- Does the IT consulting team have experience with the regulations and compliances your company faces?
- Are they US-based with US-based support options instead of outsourcing to third-world countries like India or China?
- Are they available to come onsite for physical reviews if needed?
These are not a fully comprehensive list for each and every company, however, this will give you a great starting point on whether or not this IT consulting team will be a potential great fit or if you remove them from the running to stop wasting more of your time.
Forward-Looking Roadmaps And Experience Counts
If your business is currently only out of one city, like Orlando, or a small region like Central Florida, but your goals for your business are to grow to the whole United States or even global, does your IT consulting team have the know-how and ability to grow your IT side of your business as well? Do they have the experience required to make that happen? There are a lot of differences between the USA and Canada for example, let alone if you needed a European presence or an Asia presence. Customs, laws, taxes, shipping times, and other delays that are common are all part of the process of learning through experience and if you select the wrong IT consulting team, they will be learning right along with you.
Another example is if you currently only need a small server presence, whether on-premise or in a smaller niche cloud provider. Once your company starts to grow and has a larger IT budget, the IT consulting team should have the experience to put a roadmap together to help tackle the different issues you are facing as you transition from a small business to a mid-market business. Scaling your business can be tough, but the IT portion doesn’t have to be if you select the right IT consulting firm. Having experience with enterprise-grade tools, clouds, and other resources is a must to make scaling as seamless as possible.
Does Location Matter?
The location of your IT consultant doesn’t matter as much as it used, but there are some big exceptions here. Secure Packet has our headquarters in Orlando, FL and that provides us the ability to easily service and provide onsite meetings for Florida. We utilize our IT consultants around the United States to make other onsite visits and reviews. With COVID-19 forcing most to become comfortable with Zoom or MS Teams meetings, onsite meetings are becoming rare. There are times when the onsite meeting is a must. For a business that has a larger server footprint that needs a physical review, an onsite in-person review is really the only sure way to make sure nothing is missed since it is very hard to perform a proper review remotely and via a video call. So depending on your needs and internal IT abilities, it varies from company to company. Secure Packet provides both since some customers are looking to cut their IT budget due to the pandemic and economic hardships, so Secure Packet works with clients and we do not require onsite visits as onsite visits can have additional costs associated with them if the review is longer then just an initial meeting. Some clients want a full review, roadmap, and vendor quote management provided which can take a few days up to a couple of weeks depending on the size of the business so there would be additional costs for onsite review such as this one. If the IT consulting team is local, then the costs of airfare, hotels, meals, etc. are eliminated.
Next Steps In Picking The Right IT Consulting Team In Orlando
As you are looking to start to get in contact with different IT consulting teams, remember to get your list of needs, wants, and nice-to-haves concerning your business even if you don’t know how you would resolve them with IT resources. Just having the list of challenges you face, what your IT budget is, and what your internal IT abilities are will go far with speeding the process along when it comes to an IT consulting team being able to evaluate if they are able to help you with your needs. Whether you are in Orlando, Florida or around the United States, please keep Secure Packet in mind as one of our core competencies is IT consulting especially in Orlando. Even if you do not choose us as your IT consulting firm, we will provide a free IT strategy call to ensure you are on the right path for you and your business.
Looking for some help and guidance as your continue on your business’s IT transformation journey? Secure Packet is here to help with engineers and support teams standing by. Schedule a free IT strategy call today to ensure your needs are covered. Secure Packet offers both Cloud Services and IT consulting to simplify your overall IT experience.