If you have been in the computer consulting business for a long time know that one of the most important services you can provide for your clients is advising them on choosing products. Your clients rely on your computer consulting firm to point them in the direction of technology solutions that are cost-effective and reliable. They also rely on you to help them avoid bad products and ineffective IT support services.

It Spending: Newer Does Not Mean Better

Just because a technology was just released does not mean it's a smart purchase for a business. If your clients buy PC's with processors that have just been released or new motherboards, graphics accelerators or chipsets they might get surprises in the future, since these products have often not been tested for the long run.

It Spending: You Are Responsible

Clients don't appreciate unreliable PCs and hardware, and many will hold you as the expert computer consultant responsible for any problems they encounter. And customers with a lot of hardware problems can be a threat to your firm. If you are incredibly careful about recommending new technologies with little information you will protect both your clients' budgets and yourself.

It Spending: Protect Your Clients From Risks Of Early Adoption

Because there is so much pressure for PC companies to create new technologies very quickly, many products are rushed to market before they are ready. In early 2001, the U.S. PC market decreased by 3.5 percent and marked the beginning of an industry contraction. Because the market is in such flux and so competitive, you owe it to customers to protect them from adopting technologies before they are perfected.

It Spending: Product Development Takes Time

For the past ten years, PC owners and small businesses have had to think about IT spending in the context of hardware device driver software and firmware that are continuously updated and reconfigured.

The problem with these advancements is that clients have to suffer with unreliable hardware products while they are being perfected because most PC companies make them part of the testing process instead of giving them finished products. Because it is your job to help clients figure out their IT spending, you want to protect them from being an expensive science experiment.

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