Make Sure They've Done It Before

Would you agree to have an operation performed by a doctor that had never done that type of surgery before? Would you buy a car sight unseen without a test drive? This is essentially what I see people doing all the time when it comes to IT. They allow internal IT staff to implement products they have never used before, and they allow consulting firms to implement solutions that they have never deployed at other clients. There is no need for this to happen.

It is perfectly appropriate to ask internal IT staff or consultants whether or not they have ever deployed the technology in question at another job or client site. If the answer is no, don’t allow them to do it on their own. If you really like them and you want to keep them around request that they bring in a consultant that has done it before to oversee the process. Explain that it isn’t your lack of confidence in them. It’s simply that you know that the first time you do something you almost always make mistakes, and you don’t want that to happen with your critical IT infrastructure. If the answer is yes, ask a few more questions. How many times? How did it go? Can you speak to someone who used or uses the system that they deployed? This simple process can help to avoid a disaster.

We recently won a new client that had a Microsoft Exchange clustering solution implemented by another firm. Basically the solution incorporates two servers, one of the servers can fail completely and Exchange will remain up and running. If you can afford it the solution makes sense. Unfortunately the consulting firm they hired made several critical mistakes when deploying it. When it was all said and done they got an email system that was going down for hours every two days. After a month of excuses from the old consulting firm they said enough is enough and brought us in to rectify the situation. They paid $60,000 for the system and then they had to pay us an additional $10,000 to fix it.

Ask questions, require logical answers, and don’t be afraid to bring someone else in if you don’t feel comfortable.