Joe Farsetta

Scruples. Business integrity. Honesty. Dealing in a fair and open manner. Trustworthiness. Mutual respect. These words and phrases all describe a mindset that's crucial to the long-term survivability of any services industry. Since IT is primarily a services industry, these words affect the way we do business and the way we're perceived by our clients. It's that simple.

After more than 20 years in this business, I've pretty much seen it all. Bone-headed moves run the gamut, from really poor business judgement to half-baked product schemes; from nonexistent planning to price gouging in the name of stupidity. Oh, boy, have I seen it all. Now, not all of it's been bad, and mistakes are made in every business. This is especially true in the IT arena, where explosive growth and technological advances have shaped the industry for the past six or seven years.

With the technological advances came opportunity. And with opportunity came money... lots of money. For those with true business knowledge and savvy, cashing in while providing genuine value and service to the client was a sure bet. For some, though, opportunity was measured in the ability to pump up professional services pricing to new heights. Yes indeed, cash was, and still is, king. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is the way some professional services organizations model their pricing structures and service offerings. While most are reasonable and deliver real value to the client, a few have the apparent inability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Don't get me wrong. Mitigating risk by adding a few dollars to a quote is perfectly acceptable and, in most cases, necessary. What I'm speaking of here goes beyond the realm of the reasonable. Some providers still believe that customers are dumber than a sack of hammers. They don't merely mitigate risk by adding some dollars. No, no, no... these pretenders price each job as if it were their last!

So, I dedicate this article to those vendors who still don't get it; to those who, after learning they didn't get my business due to excessive pricing, blink their eyes in bewilderment, like a cow staring at a passing train.

This month's article strays from the path of reality and ventures into the realm of silliness. We're traveling to the land of IT Bizarro-World. A land where professional services heroes believe that money grows on trees, and that every client is more clueless than the last. A land where all things are definitely not equal. You know the drill: "No, Mr. Customer, we're not fleecing you. We're adding value...our experts are worth every penny, and we're barely covering our expenses."

Although the scenario I'll depict here is a little far-fetched, it may be closer to reality than you think. So, any similarity to business practices, titles, responsibilities, names, or actual events you may have encountered in your own career are purely coincidental!

In all seriousness, most clients are a whole lot smarter than they were a few years ago. Most aren't willing to be taken to the cleaners in the name of being put "on the Net." The vast majority can smell a bad deal from a mile away. Thank goodness for that - it helps the true professionals separate themselves from the rest. It also gives real professional services organizations the opportunity to outshine the competition. So, relax and read on. Opportunistic or outrageous? You decide!

Once Upon a Time...
Customer X informs Professional Services Company Y that the 100-watt light bulb in their Web-hosting cage is burned out. Customer X can't get his maintenance guy in to replace the bulb until next Thursday, so he asks his account manager to handle the bulb swap. No problem...

Seizing this major opportunity, the account manager quickly engages a business services director from his company, along with a network architect, to review the request. A complete architecture validation is then ordered, as the customer may be confused and not actually need a new bulb. It's decided that the customer needs a truly comprehensive solution rather than a simple bulb replacement, and it's best if he leaves the decision-making to the professionals.

The first thing Professional Services Company Y decides is that, for security reasons, there must be 24 more lighting fixtures installed in the cage immediately. Mind you, this cage is only 10'x10'.

The second thing Professional Services Company Y decides is that all new lighting fixtures need to have reversed threads. The sole existing unit requires a retrofit. Additionally, all fixtures need to be fed via dual power sources, for purposes of redundancy. One can never be too careful or too prepared.

A project manager to supervise the fixture installations and retrofit is then added to the project. Six hundred hours are estimated for this critical service. Twenty-five senior consultants are assigned to the project. Their time is estimated at 36 hours per lighting fixture for installation, setup, documentation, testing, and certification. Remember, these are highly trained individuals, prepared for any emergency that may arise during the critical "installation phase."

As the completion of this critical reengineering exercise approaches, a final architecture review and approval must be obtained from Professional Services Company Y's chief Internetworking designer in charge of technologies (IDIOT, for short) before presenting the designs to the customer for approval and proceeding with the project. But a snag has occurred!

Upon review, the chief IDIOT sees major problems with the plan. It must be scrapped immediately! The first red flag noted is that the project has no code name - and code-named projects are worth more, right? Of course they are! The project is then appropriately named Project Catapult. Pretty snazzy, wouldn't you say?

The chief IDIOT then decides to replace the 25 porcelain light fixtures originally specified with 14 high-end network routers. He'll fully populate each box with single-mode optical fiber interfaces. His thought isn't to use the routers for any network function per se, but to utilize the lasers in each fiber-optic interface to produce the required candlepower to outshine the sun. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are retained to validate the new design. Professional Services Company Y has created yet a new offering for its customers... they call it Jumbo Jet, referring to the price tag for the service, and to the labs where the validation is to be reviewed. Pure genius, don't you think?

Solar deflectors and ultraviolet diffusers are then special-ordered to complement each laser and evenly distribute the light within the cage.

With safety as a concern, specially designed UV-, EMI-, and photon-protective entry suits are ordered for the senior consultants who will work in the cage, lest they be instantaneously burned to a crisp or perish from radiation exposure.

Finally, water-cooled and lead-lined titanium panels are installed all around the cage to protect anyone in the vicinity from the tremendous heat, radiation, and blinding light of the artificial sun that's been created.

Four thousand more man hours are added to the cost of the project.

A 93-page statement of work and comprehensive project plan is created and delivered to the customer. The total project cost is estimated at $15.3 million dollars...Project Catapult has successfully catapulted the customer into the arms of another professional services organization. The account manager is left with a huge "L" tattoo on his forehead, and so it goes.

Pop Quiz
In this story...
(a)   Professional Services Company Y deserves to be run out of town on a rail.
(b)   Professional Services Company Y believes that Customer X was born last night.
(c)   After reviewing the quote, Customer X laughed until he fell down. Then, after regaining his composure, he threw his account manager out the window.
(d)   All of the above

If you answered "d," you were correct... Is there a lesson to be learned here? I think so. Did this scenario actually happen? Of course not... but it might as well have. In my long IT career, I've seen the most outrageously inflated pricing models forced onto customers on a regular basis. In some companies, this was the norm rather than the exception. And what did this overinflation ultimately do to those businesses? It ruined them, plain and simple. Once you break the customer's trust, it can never be restored. Without trust, there is no additional business. Without additional business, you can turn off the lights and shut the doors.

We're on the cusp of a new breed of applications and client business models. We, the industry professionals, are poised to help these clients and truly make a difference. It's both an awesome responsibility and an unbelievable opportunity to make some serious dough. So, don't sell yourself short, but don't gouge the customer either. Most important, deliver a quality product on time and within budget. This is true value-add, and is the key to retention, positive reputation, repeat business, and financial success. Once the battle lines have been drawn, and companies are engaged to perform complex WebSphere implementations, the truth shall set the customers free. Pretenders will quickly fail. Experts delivering value-add will prosper. When the smoke clears, you want to be one of the last ones standing. Integrity and knowledge are your most important tools. Leave amateur hour to the pretenders and hacks. They will certainly fail.

Above all, remember that scruples are not things that you put on your salad.