One of the challenges of being a small business manager or owner in today’s technology-based world is thinking about hiring an IT consulting specialist to handle your technology assets.  If you are like most small business owners, you don’t necessarily know the first thing about hiring a computer consulting firm.    

There are many different ways small companies can buy IT support services, from contracting with IT moonlighters to outsourcing with IT consulting firms, network integrators or value added resellers (VARs).

Working without In-House IT

While some small companies buy software support directly from software vendors, most without an in-house IT department usually put a great deal of value on face-time and prefer working with a local IT consulting company that can come on site.
 
The industry’s largest ISV’s (Microsoft, Oracle or others) will usually have an on-site presence at Fortune 1000 companies.  However, small businesses do not fall within their realm of clients and have to go with local IT consulting firms, network integrators or VARs.  

Industry-Specific Applications

The only time small businesses will have to buy support services and IT consulting services from ISV’s directly is when they have bought industry-specific applications (such as dental office management, CPA tax preparation, restaurant POS, etc.), and their local IT consulting firm does not have deep enough expertise to handle the software or package.  In these cases, ISV support can be purchased as a supplement to regular IT consulting services.  

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg