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 Case in Point
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Email article
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Extended Excellence
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For Value and Quality, Supplement Your Team With Extended Services
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By Pete Van Opens
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You've seen this coming down the tracks for a long time now, and it's getting too loud and too big to ignore: Your organization needs an Exchange upgrade and it needs it now. So what are your options?
Go commando – They say there's no learning like learning by doing, so maybe this can be handled in-house. Your team knows your systems, and you've got a couple of people who have some experience with the new platform. It might take a little longer, but if everybody can do a little extra beyond normal duties, you won't have to pay anybody outside the organization. How hard can it be, after all?
Go temp – There's a staffing agency that HR uses, and they've got IT professionals in the stable. Hire a heavy hitter who's been part of complex projects like this and let him/her drive the process start to finish. There'll be a learning curve for that person, but it'll be good to have a pro on the case, no matter how long "temporary” ends up taking.
Go big time – Maybe it's time you called on one of the biggies you see sponsoring major sporting events. This is an important project after all, and those guys have to be good or they couldn't afford those commercials, right? It'll take some time for them to become familiar with your business, and it might end up being on the expensive side, but some say you get what you pay for.
Go with a partner – The technology partner who supplies your equipment and software offers Extended Services to clients, and certainly they've done upgrades like this for organizations like yours before. Over the years they've come to know your business and your systems, they do a good job, and they've been willing to go the extra mile to keep you as a client.
Leaders like you always have more work to do than resources to devote. It's the nature of leadership to want to move the organization forward, and it's the nature of business to offer constrained resources. What's the best way to address challenges, accomplish goals, keep the business running, and do it all at a reasonable cost? Extended Services.
Familiarity Breeds Success
Some consider Extended Services synonymous with "supplemental staffing,” but when your supplier is a partner with depth and vision, it's much more. Extended Services is the use of outside people from a partner that also provides other products and/or services, such as a trusted value-added reseller (VAR). Historically, companies have contacted employment agencies for temporary talent, but your services provider is more likely to understand your business and goals and to offer depth and stability that isn't available from organizations whose sole function is staffing.
Part of that depth is experience. Your partner does many times what you do once, and this is never more true or more valuable than in cases of first-time implementations or upgrades. These are complex one-time projects, and the subtle intricacies of the process are known only to someone who's been there many times. Utilizing that experience alone will always save you time and expense.
Extensive experience also means that your VAR probably has figured out ways to staff projects for maximum value. Senior architects often design the solutions, and then less experienced, less costly experts handle the implementation, with senior talent always available just a phone call away.
Perhaps most important, your VAR has a vested interest in your success and the business relationship, and it expects this engagement to lead to an even stronger connection between your organizations. The commitment to success and quality will be extremely high, and you'll receive superior service.
Make the Most of Your Projects Right Now
In today's turbulent economic climate, some companies are suspending projects, preferring to hold on tight to their resources until things change. The halted projects were developed to address real needs, and if the economy doesn't turn around before project resources are exhausted through reallocation (don't think they won't be), the needs will continue to go unmet indefinitely.
Furthermore, there undoubtedly are competitors who view an economic downturn as an opportunity to seize market share and grow. As Intel's Craig Barrett said recently, "You can't save your way out of a recession; you have to invest your way out.” Now's the time to provision projects that provide strategic value and augment your team with Extended Services resources to get the work done. As other companies reduce staff, they fill the talent pool with knowledge and experience that your services partner can leverage to help your organization complete projects, capture return on investment, and grow at the expense of your competition.
Think Outside the Project
You don't have to wait for upgrades or other major initiatives to derive value from Extended Services:
Moving – If your company is moving or expanding to another site or moving a data center, it's easier and more economical to use a resource that possesses logistics experience and equipment.
Temping – In many organizations, productivity suffers in summer months and at year-end, when most employee vacation time is used, and during medical and family leaves. Filling in those gaps with experts from Extended Services keeps your team delivering at full power, allowing you to capture ROI sooner and compete more effectively.
Networking–Organizations with geographically diverse locations benefit from using Extended Services because most valued partners have offices or relationships with other branded resources in other locales to ensure consistent support and service.
Transitioning – Combining two organizations can be a challenge, and using resources from your partner to assist with desktop standardization or combining e-mail systems or networks is the ideal way to minimize internal friction and assure a rapid and reliable transition.
Extended Services: A Solution for Today
Extended Services provides real value via expert talent and accumulated experience that allow you to make the most of project opportunities and maximize performance in spite of normal staffing fluctuations. Using a partner that knows your organization, and is committed to its continued growth and prosperity, yields benefits that can't be matched by other staffing models. With the economic downturn providing opportunity in the form of greater talent in the marketplace and the ability to press for growth while others stay pat, leaders can look to Extended Services to deliver the right competitive advantage at the right time.
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