Computer network support on DIY basis

Computer network support on DIY basis

Didn't find your answer?

I think I'm probably about to fall out with my IT guy. This will be the third time so maybe it's me although (IMO at least) I think I am an undemanding customer.

Anyway, I've just got fed up of the shoddy service and unfulfilled promises, although at least this lot haven't really tried to rip me off with extras like the first 2 suppliers did. I'm also pretty convinced that this whole support thing is mostly money for old rope, much much more so than we could fairly be accused about in our line of work as accountants. 

So, I have a 3 workstation network with a central server (not peer-to-peer) with Small Business Server 2003 installed and my question is this: do any of you out there with an equivalent or bigger network handle all that yourselves or do you all use IT "professionals"?

If you do handle it yourselves, is that because you're heavily into that sort of stuff or do you think a novice like me could pick it up without it taking over my life and working hours? By way of background, I'm not a complete computer ignoramus and would grade myself immodestly as a pretty competent VBA programmer, but that's software of course and I've never had any interest until now in the hardware side of things.

Replies (21)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

By Phil Craven
23rd Sep 2013 14:55

Have a look at hosting

Adam,

We have had the same story from many accountants; the ’IT man from down the road’ is letting me down.

Clients that have moved to hosting solutions simply turn the PC’s into dumb terminals and the hosting company takes care of the server, backup, updates and D/R – all for a fixed cost.

Well worth considering when you are looking to replace your server or moving your IT support

Phil

 

 

Thanks (0)
Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
23rd Sep 2013 14:49

Contract or ad hoc?

We have a similar installation with a few more workstations.  I certainly would not attempt to do all the IT stuff myself, but we have an ad hoc arrangement with a small (husband and wife) IT support company, rather than a fixed monthly contract.  Some years, we have no problems and it costs us nothing.  Other years, when we get a problem, we think it is worth the cost to get an expert to fix the problem.

Or you could take up the blatant advertising above ...

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Richard Willis
23rd Sep 2013 15:43

A decent company

will offer a small(ish) retainer to cover remote access support with on site time chargeable.  I ran a similar server to yours (more terminals) with such a setup for several years.  I hardly ever needed to bother them but when I did.............................  Where are you based?  Useful to know for recommendations!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Richard Willis
23rd Sep 2013 15:45

Oh, and BTW

My return key doesn't work in AWEB either.  If you click 'Disable rich text' at the bottom left it does the trick!

Thanks (1)
Replying to atleastisoundknowledgable...:
avatar
By chatman
27th Sep 2013 09:03

Why does AWeb default to rich text?

Richard Willis wrote:
 If you click 'Disable rich text' at the bottom left it does the trick!

I do that before posting anything on AWeb. I would prefer plain text to be the default. Rich text stops the spelling checker working.

Thanks (0)
Replying to Matrix:
avatar
By Richard Willis
02nd Oct 2013 08:13

I can spell pretty well

I just can't type!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By jonathan.kempson
25th Sep 2013 13:08

Know yourself
We used to have a network support arm to our business, but it moved to a separate company at the start of August, so I'm moderately informed but no longer involved on the supply side.

You don't indicate how you choose your suppliers, nor whether you're on a fixed price or pay as you go contract. I'd expect it to be relatively expensive if your support is fixed price, and the reason is that you're paying to transfer the risk to the IT support company, when you have a relatively complex setup given the small number of users.

It's likely that you could look after things yourself, but that means carrying all the risk yourself, so as a minimum you'd need a plan in case something happens that you can't recover from (as relying on finding expertise at short notice is optimistic).

There may be things that you can do to simplify your setup, most obviously moving from Exchange to hosted Exchange (so that someone else looks after it).

Your question at heart, though, is about your view of risk.

Jonathan

Thanks (0)
avatar
By pauljohnston
25th Sep 2013 13:29

Jonathan sums it up

nicely and that is how we do it.

Howewver you dont say how old your Pcs are.   We have found that the cost of new more than covered the costs of ad-hoc callout.   We also take any broken or seems broken Pc to the shop.  This redeuces costs from £70 ph including getting here to just having the repair done.

If you are going to takeon more of the risk - make sure your backup is suitable, stable and it is easty for you to relaim the data.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By leicsred
25th Sep 2013 14:42

We have 14 workstations and 3 servers and we have a fixed price contract because in the past we have tried to do it on the cheap and had nightmares. The current bunch are a small local company and whilst not the quickest at implementing new solutions (all included in the cost) are very quick at responding if we have an issue with existing stuff. I wouldn't be without them (or someone) on a retainer as there is near mutiny if we are down for more than about an hour!

Thanks (0)
By The Minion
26th Sep 2013 11:28

ask for recommendations

We have one server split into a few virtual servers and about 12 workstations.

Our previous IT support company charged us about £400pm but that did not apparently cover the various melt downs the system had - never their fault, apparently.

We were constantly short of memory on the system we even got up to 3 -4 terrabytes and still didnt have enough.

 

When we finally sacked them off (nightmare process) the new IT people came in (£200 pm covers everything) found that there was a back up held on the system that took up almost two terrabytes and didnt do anything. They removed it and hey presto the system works fine now.

 

We have looked at hosted but at the time out broadband speed was rubbish. I would seriously look at hosted solutions. Loads of posts on this, including the top of this weeks mailer.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Robjoy
26th Sep 2013 13:06

With a network as small as that I wonder whether you need an actual Server. Peer-to-peer is far less technically demanding. What real server functions is your server performing?

Thanks (1)
avatar
By TaxMatters
26th Sep 2013 13:58

hidden extras

Computer systems are getting as complicated as tax law. The short answer in my humble opinion is get a dog and don't bark yourself. I know - not that easy to find but they are out there

Thanks (0)
avatar
By wigs887
26th Sep 2013 14:37

Windows SBS 2003

If you have VBA programming skills, over time, you should be able to learn how to sufficiently handle a Windows SBS 2003 system in house. It is, however, a matter of time v opportunity cost and understanding the operating system (much reading).  Windows SBS 2003, is pretty much self maintaining, but it really depends on the applications that you run on the system, how the systems is currently set up, current system state and how it gets used/misused by your staff.

Maintenance contracts for a network of your size should be viewed as insurance, not really maintenance arrangements. This, of course, depends on the level of "in house" knowledge of the system and level of use.  From my personal experience, if your network is not strategically critical, either, do it yourself, find someone you can trust to do it for you or at the very least, learn the system basics.

Learning the "nuts and bolts" of the system will significantly reduce the likelihood that you will get ripped off.  There are many cowboys out there who create more problems than they resolve. You must appreciate that there is no short cut though, you have to learn how the system works to successfully troubleshoot most common problems. Note, however, that uncommon problems can be very difficult and time consuming to resolve, so back up your system frequently if you take the DIY route!  The most important aspect of any IT system is a reliable backup/restore procedure.

SBS 2003 is old technology and if IT is strategically critical to your business, perhaps you should give serious consideration to upgrading the system and starting a fresh.

Good luck!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By Briar
26th Sep 2013 16:26

Get an IT Co as a client

Get yourself a client who is an expert in IT. I have one, if he doesn't keep my system running properly, he doesn't get his accounts and tax returns done. A very mutual arrangement!

Thanks (0)
By The Minion
26th Sep 2013 16:39

@briar

That is exactly what we thought, as our costs went up because of their issues, our IT costs seemed to follow.

Acrimonious fallout etc etc.

 

Take care with that route and make sure you have all master passwords and cant be blackmailed and also make sure that there is a sensible cancellation policy in place.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By pauljohnston
27th Sep 2013 08:04

Microsoft Exchange

You dont say whether you have MIcrosoft Exchange Server installed.  If you do you may find that the complexity adds to the costs.  If you only use this component for email a hosted solution may be better and cheaper.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By adam.arca
27th Sep 2013 13:34

Many thanks for all replies and suggestions.

I have a couple of clients who are not IT trained themselves but seem to manage quite happily with network arrangements like mine, hence my wondering whether any accountants do this. It would appear, from these responses anyway, that the answer is no.

For the time being, I'm taking the pragmatic / coward's approach. I've mended my fences with the IT guy for now but, going forwards, the need to move on from SBS 2003 is going to create the opportunity to move to a much simpler and probably more appropriately-scaled arrangement.

There have been some really interesting suggestions which I'm going to have to research (I'm not at all geeky or gadget-orientated so new technology generally prompts a barely-stifled yawn from me), but I am still tempted to acquire the basic skills needed to gradually move towards either managing (ideally) my own network or at least better supervising what the IT guys are doing.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By chatman
27th Sep 2013 15:54

Learn by trying

I think the best way to learn these things is by trying to do them yourself. If you try and fail, you can still call your computer guy.

Thanks (0)
avatar
By rpgraham
30th Sep 2013 12:37

Upgrade

Dont forget that Win 2003 is part of the Win XP family for which Microsoft support is rappidly coming to an end.

Seriously think about upgrading.

For a 3 user system Client / Server arrangement is a little over the top, unless you are using on-premise Exchange.  As the first poster said, cloud solutions may be a good option for you.  Need to consider your current internet connection, email and storage / backup options.

Richard

IT Manager for 50 user Accountancy practice in Somerset.

Thanks (1)
By Phil Craven
30th Sep 2013 14:01

Thanks Richard

 

To comment on the speed of the internet connection, we have clients that didn’t think it would work on a slow connection.  The latest technology uses powerful servers to run the applications on the hosted servers, the best way to prove the solution is to test it over the current link.

We have clients that use 2 or 3 lines, with 3/4G as a backup.

Email and storage are discussed when the project is proposed, all our solutions include backups.

The Microsoft products are automatically updated to the latest version using SPLA

 

Thanks (0)
avatar
By janglesea
26th Mar 2015 13:05

We see both sides of this question, being Chartered Accountants ourselves and providers of ICT services to our clients including a couple of other, smaller accountancy practices. With an IT team of two in-house for our four servers and 65 PCs we have spare capacity to cover the 15 servers and 190-odd PCs we also look after for the clients.

Our IT support costs a lot, but the lack of IT support in the past meant that staff were demotivated by problems they could not solve. We also lost time with software issues (Iris!) distracting staff whose talents were, shall we say, better directed elsewhere. Having in-house IT support is a luxury but means accounting staff are as productive as possible and the fees generated from client-side IT support offset the cost of our IT team.

The main question I think you should ask is "How much is my time worth?". You should be able to get top quality IT support for £65 per hour. Is that what you charge? Assuming you have the time available for the research and trial-and-error involved there is nothing to stop you doing your own IT support. Unlike accountancy it is not a closed profession and anyone can be an IT expert which is why, as has been said, there are so many chancers offering their services.

I would caution you against trying to do it yourself, for two reasons: 1) if you make yourself responsible for the IT infrastructure in your firm then you will have to be ready to be available at any time (including holidays) when it needs your attention, otherwise you will be losing chargeable time from all affected staff. 2) you will have to spend time on it even when it is working well, so as to be able to plan for the future and prepare for changes as the technology evolves.

Moving services to the cloud makes sense for certain applications but broadband has been known to fail. If you are dependent on your IT for fee-earning then you would have to be very confident that you could live "offline" for a while. We have three ADSL connections to our 35-user main office from three suppliers, of whom two are BT Business Wholesale and one LLU (TalkTalk). The BT dependent connections went down for three days about year ago due to a failure in an Edinburgh comms. centre. We rerouted our key services (including an essential link to our branch office) through the TalkTalk connection and carried on but is this the kind of thing you could do if you became dependent on the cloud?

While hosted Exchange makes sense for small user groups (no internet equals no emails whether your server is on-premises or not), but when time is money no SLA can cover consequential loss. A good relationship with an IT support provider will minimise these risks.

Thanks (0)