The Technology Headlines DEMAND FORCASTING & AI | Page 19

future growth. If your organization is planning to open new
office locations, for example, or adding seasonal employees
to the call center for the holidays, you need to consider the
impact on the IT environment. What challenges do those
functions pose, and what technology can mitigate those
issues? You likely won’t be able to address everything at
once, but this exercise in assessing today’s environment
will allow you to better prioritize needs and create a list of
requirements for each area of focus.
Navigating the endless sea of service providers
Now that you have a detailed list of requirements, you are
all set to begin looking at potential service providers for
required IT solutions. A word of caution, though. This can
be a major source of frustration for even the most seasoned
IT leaders. Most IT services are not a ‘one size fits all’
solution. Each vendor and product give way to a myriad of
configurations, features, and service options. While this is
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helpful in giving you plenty of options from which to choose,
it also results in an inability to make a true ‘apples to apples’
comparison of different providers. Service level agreements,
product features, contract terms, and additional service fees
can vary among providers. If you’re not careful, you could
end up with buyer’s remorse before the solution is even
implemented.
Successful IT projects typically have an underlying
commonality – a technology consultant. In this scenario, IT
leaders leverage the expertise and industry knowledge of a
consultant to better define requirements, collect and evaluate
vendor quotes, negotiate contracts, and provide pre and
post-installation support. In doing so, you are able to free up
internal resources by offloading a majority of the research
and deployment of services to a third party. Most technology
consultants can work directly with vendors on your behalf to
guarantee that you are getting a solution that works for your
business today, tomorrow, and in the future.
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