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Commercial software – worth the price?

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Yesterday I came across an old topic in The Force Field forums about an incident in which a particular software vendor released an upgrade that caused an issue for a reseller. I responded to the post sympathetic towards the reseller and somewhat critical of the software industry in general.

I wasn’t targeting the specific application, in fact soon after this story broke they rectified the issue and as far as I know all has been well since.

I was merely using the incident as an example of how the software industry as a whole has
overcharged and underdelivered since the early days and how we as consumers and users have
been conditioned to just accept it as The Way Things Should Be.

I believe this conditioning began back in the early 80’s when the personal computer existed in the
form of the Atari, Tandy, Commodore, Apple and IBM PCs. Software was often home-grown by startup software companies and sold on cassette tapes and 5 1/4 inch floppy disks in cheap packaging and poorly written instruction sheets. Applications, utilities and games were oftenwritten mostly in BASIC with ASCII or low res graphics, barely ran without crashing and were sold for a premium simply because most users didn’t have the time or patience to write the programs themselves.

I remember I purchased an accounting program for my Commodore PET computer once on a
cassette tape that cost about $20. The program was so full of bugs it was basically useless. In
those days the software was not always compiled in machine language and you could often break the program from running and go through the code to fix it yourself, which is what some did.

Of course, if it didn’t work, you would return it. Because it could be easily copied, this quickly
became a nightmare for software resellers. However, instead of improving the quality of the product
before it went on sale, software vendors simply put a stop to accepting returns.

There was some quality stuff out there, but it was overshadowed by a plethora of junk. In time,
users began to get a clue and started writing their own programs which they freely distributed on
bulletin board systems (before Al Gore allegedly helped invent the Internet) and in user groups. There was also the free and illegal distribution of commercial software, some of which users felt was usable but not worth buying for one reason or another. This divided software into four basic types, freeware, shareware, commercial software and warez (pirated commercial software).

Some of the free user-created programs were quite good; so good, in fact, it put some of their
commercial counterparts to shame. That didn’t deter the commercial software companies.

The commercial vendors already had control over the terms of sale and use in the commercial market. To curb the piracy they began to require licensing agreements and further raised the price of the software – but not necessarily the quality.

Thirty years later nothing has changed. The software industry still takes us to the cleaners. Why?
Because they can.

A whole generation of users were born and raised on crappy software, crappy service, crappy
support on crappy terms at crappy prices. It’s all they experienced. It’s all they know. To these
users it is The Way Things Are because it is The Way Things Are Supposed To Be. But it isn’t. Yet
it is, because they let it be.

Don’t get me wrong. There is commercial software that is worth the price – every penny. Some of it
is quite excellent. There is also a lot of it sitting on my shelf that I paid a lot more for and was not
worth half. Yet the software vendor wants to to fix it with an upgrade for a fee. That is simply
unacceptable.

The software industry is the only industry I can think of that can get away with selling something
that can have serious flaws, can and often will charge you more money for new and improved
versions to fix those flaws (while sometimes introducing new flaws), maintains complete control over the product after you purchase it, tells you how you can and can’t use it, locks you and whatever
you create into it so that you must use their product to access what you create with it and own, does not warranty the product, sells you something intangible that you do not actually own, forces you to agree to and sign a one sided legal document in their favor AFTER you paid for it but before you can use it and overcharges for the entire experience with no refunds.

In any other industry this would be called a scam. In the commercial software industry it’s just
accepted business practice.

The worst part of it all is, as consumers, we expect it and because we expect it, we let them do it,
because it meets our expectations- and we pay the price.

The dos and don’ts of free trial software pre-installs for resellers

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Software pre-loads are a somewhat controversial practice among resellers in the industry. If done right it can be a great value-added incentive and a tremendous marketing tool. If done poorly, as some major vendors such as Dell, HP and Sony do, it can annoy and possibly alienate customers from both the product and the reseller. The key to success: common sense, good judgement and moderation.

Customers typically want their computers to have what they need on their PC at the time of purchase without having to shell out a lot of money.  Trial versions of popular applications can give the customers some functionality without the added cost of purchasing full versions right off the bat. Trial versions can also introduce new products to customers. A “try before you buy” approach can often hook a customer into the application and entice them to purchase the full product, hopefully from the reseller who sold them the PC. This upsell opportunity can help solidify the customer-reseller relationship and give the reseller an added advantage as a one-stop resource for additional products, service and support.

However, while they can be a great value-add to a new PC and can entice sales of full product,  some large OEMs will overdo it and load down the machines with so much  trial software programmed to boot up with the system that it often bogs the machine down, taking up system memory and space on the hard drive, negatively affecting performance and clogging up a new PC. For this reason, many customers also have this software immediately removed, often paying their tech to do so.

So how do you leverage the potential marketing power of trial software without creating a monster? By following three simple rules:

1. Know your customer. Listen to him or her. Find out what he or she needs and offer only the trial products that are most likely to meet them. If the customer is using the PC for accounting, a free trial of anti-virus software is fine as protection is necessary, but why load it down with trial games? Everyone likes to get something for free but if it isn’t used or needed, free stuff is useless. It’s just common sense.

2.  Whenever possible, install the trial products with prudence. Some software such as anti-virus programs will need to start and run with the operating system, but that free trial version of MS Office doesn’t need to load up and run the entire suite on boot. When installing trial products, configure them properly. Let what needs to run immediately load up and turn everything else off. Let the customer decide if they want to run the applications and when. Optimize the system for best performance. Let the PC run the software. Don’t let the software run the PC. Install trial software with the customer and performance in mind. Use good judgement.

3. Don’t try to be everything to everyone and don’t try to sell everything at once. Everyone needs anti-virus and anti-malware scanners, but do they need them all?  I purchased a Dell laptop once that had software for half a dozen ISPs. It was a huge turn-off and it was the last Dell I bought. I’ve seen brand new PCs with multiple Office suites, utility suites, multimedia applications and security products. Why does anyone need free trial versions of four different backup solutions? They don’t. It may also confuse them as to which one you recommend and endorse as a reseller. Offer a limited number of different products and only one of each type. Pick a vendor you recommend, trust and support for each and install a trial version of the product. Don’t try to install and sell every single application on the market. Promote and sell, but do it sensibly. Use moderation.

IObit offers free license for Security 360 Pro

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IObit is giving away full one-year licenses of Security 360 Pro anti-malware utility until November 11, 2009.

IObit Security 360 is a antivirus and antimalware program that detects and removes spyware, keyloggers, trojans, worms and other malware, The utility is available in both Free and Pro versions and they are basically the same program, although the Pro version has more features.

the free version is available to download for non-commercial use. The Pro version includes full functionality and sells for $29.95, however, IObit.com is currently giving away a free one year free license for the Pro version until November 11.

To obtain a free license, go to http://db.iobit.com/license-free/win7-special-offer.php , download the trial and submit your e-mail address.

Trusting your data to the cloud can be Danger-ous

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Users of Microsoft’s Sidekick smartphone experienced an outage early this month that nine days later turned out to be catastrophic. While its not the first time a communications platform has experienced downtime, this time it’s different. This time users didn’t just lose service, they lost access to all their data. Many lost all of the data itself. Permanently.

The outage is the talk of tech sites, blogs and forums and raises what many believe are serious questions about the future cloud computing.

The Sidekick is a smartphone developed by Microsoft-owned subsidiary Danger, Inc. and sold by T-Mobile. User data such as calender entries, photos, address books and to-do lists are all stored on Microsoft Danger servers utilizing a Storage Area Network.

On October 1, 2009 Danger’s servers went down, taking user’s data off line. According to some reports Microsoft was performing an upgrade on its SAN when something went terribly wrong. At first it was believed to be only a temporary outage and by October 8 access to most of the services was restored. However much of the data was not and two days later Microsoft sent an e-mail to users and a notice was posted on T-Mobile’s community forums admitting their data was likely gone for good.

The reason? Microsoft did not back up the servers prior to the upgrade.

Rumour has it the snafu is being blamed on Hitachi , who Microsoft allegedly hired to perform the upgrade. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant to users now. The fact is, Microsoft lost their customers’ personal data and there was no backup. The damage was done.

The irony of all this is that, overall, the entity responsible for this epic fail is Microsoft, a company that should know better. Backup, backup, backup. Isn’t this something Redmond has drummed into our heads over the years? Of all companies to trust with our data shouldn’t they be the company most responsible to manage it?

Now, granted, Microsoft’s business model was not built on cloud computing. Their core business model is based on desktop computing, selling operating systems and software that reside directly on the desktop.  In fact, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has stated in the past that he doesn’t think the public is ready for working in the cloud and to a certain extent he has a point. In spite of Ballmer’s rhetoric Microsoft enter the arena anyway but it seems as if it did so only half-heartedly, a move that was likely made more for the sake of keeping up with Google than actually doing anything innovative in the cloud itself.

This brings up the most important question. Is cloud computing ready for prime time and is it really safe to trust it with your data? This isn’t a new discussion at all, but after such a massive and destructive event as the Sidekick outage it does remind us how important and controversial a question it is.

For instance, many tech business owners, myself included, have been hesitant to promote or sell cloud-based solutions to our customers simply based on the uncertainty as to whether or not the cloud can be trusted.

Take back-up solutions, for instance. There are a number of companies who offer them today and there are a myriad of opportunities to partner with these companies for recurring sales revenue. However, no matter how secure the data is, anything in the cloud is potentially hackable, an inconvenient truth that, unfortunately, has already been proven time and time again.

Aside from the security aspect of placing a data backup in an environment that is just “out there”, one that is essentially virtual and could potentially be accessed by anyone, anywhere at anytime, there is the aspect of reliability as well. Anyone can claim 99.9 percent uptime, but that percentage is relative depending on the length of time against which that percentage is measured. . 1 percent of a day is not very long at all. .1 percent of a year or two is something else entirely.

What if a small business customer backed up all their data to a backup service and that service had a Sidekick event? What if that data backup was unrecoverable? The potential effects could be catastrophic, not only for the customer who lost their data but for the service provider who recommended and sold that service to their customer. Is the loss of that customer and the potential damage to the service provider’s reputation worth risking for an extra buck or two each month?

Yes, it sounds overly paranoid of course, but these are questions some service providers ask and among the reasons why some may not recommend or offer such services to their customers. While It may seem like an overreaction, it could happen and it already did happen to Sidekick users, only worse, because it wasn’t a mere data backup that was gone, it was the data itself that was destroyed.  

Considering the fact that Microsoft purchased a company called Danger and never changed the name was probably not the best move in terms of marketing or building trust in a brand. Since the outage, the name itself now carries a whole new meaning. Seriously, a huge behemoth called Microsoft owns a company called Danger which put all its user’s data in real danger by not backing up its own servers and subsequently lost it all, providing a reason for those who are not fans of cloud computing to bolster their argument that trusting your data to the cloud can be Danger-ous. Now, that’s ironic.

Incidentally, Danger initially launched the Sidekick on October 1, 2002, exactly seven years to the day of the outage.

 

 

 

 

My Laptop Terminator: Rise of the Netbooks

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Last month I headed out to Washington, D.C. for a family trip. As expected, I wanted to be able to check routes, access my e-mail and keep tabs on The Force Field web portal. Naturally I planned to bring along a laptop, however the battery wasn’t working well and I didn’t want to cart around something I had to keep plugged in everywhere to use. I was not inclined to keep tabs on another piece of luggage, either. I wanted something with mobility like a cell phone but with the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously like a laptop.

The solution was a new netbook.

I purchased an Acer Aspire One KAV60 netbook with an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory (upgradeable to 2GB) and a 160GB hard drive. This fit the bill perfectly. It was small and lightweight, yet allowed me to do everything I needed and then some. The best part was the price. It was below $300.

Now, granted, it didn’t include an optical drive, so I couldn’t run anything from a CD or DVD. In fact, my wife was a little skeptical of it at first because she couldn’t play DVD movies. However, with access to the Internet, we didn’t need one and it wasn’t missed. Every application I needed to install was available for download on the Internet. Anything else I needed could be loaded from a USB thumb drive or an SD card, which could be easily inserted in the multi-card slot embedded in the base of the unit. As for watching movies? Hulu and Netflix took care of that.

If I needed real computing power on the road, all I needed to do was log into my computer at home using GoToMyPC from Citrix and I could access all my serious applications and multitask from there. All I really needed was access to the Internet. With a choice of ethernet or wi-fi in the system, we were set. No worries.

It was then that I understood the full and historical implication of this: the Rise of the Netbooks was upon us.

I am not always distracted by the possible ramifications of new technologies and don’t automatically assume one will change the future of an entire industry. But it does happen, and often enough within the last twenty years to make me more watchful of anything new that comes along.

Take the Super 8 movie camera, for instance. Before the mid ’70s 8mm motion picture film was the way we recorded our family events. When video came along, it changed everything. Music was sold and distributed on vinyl records and audio tapes until the introduction of the Compact Disc. Now the CD is taking a back seat to iPods and mp3 files. Needless to say the iPod alone has had a tumultuous effect on the entire recording industry.

Since its initial introduction to the computer marketplace the laptop has been the de facto standard for computing mobility around the world. However, as given in the previous examples, every technology has its end of dominance or end of life. The laptop, as with anything else, is not immune to such obsolescence.

When I returned home from our trip with our netbook, I went up to my office and looked at my laptop, sitting on the table. It looked big, bulky and old. I’ve turned it on a few times since, mostly to download updates for applications and the operating system. Once or twice I used it to surf the Internet. Then I would turn it off, open the netbook and watch a movie online.

Now that I’ve turned the netbook over to my wife as a replacement for her old desktop, I need to buy one for me. Unless something changes, my laptop toting days are over. It’s another netbook for me.

There’s no doubt netbooks have a place in the computer market. They fill an important gap between desktops and full featured portables. In fact, for what I use a laptop these days, which is primarily for web-based work, the netbook has generally replaced it altogether. I considered purchasing a new laptop but I really don’t want to lug it around. The netbook does what I need a laptop to do on the road and I can slip it into a bag or case with my other gear easily, eliminating the need for a separate laptop bag.

As netbooks increase in popularity and performance, could they ultimately replace laptops for general use? If so, how will it effect the portable repair industry? Will it create a niche market for netbook repair or will they be so cheap that few netbook users will opt to repair them and simply toss them for new ones?

The rise of the netbook could be the beginning of a new era in the PC marketplace. The question is, will it offer new opportunities for techs or will it be the beginning of the end for the laptop repair provider? Which ever way it goes, stay alert, watch closely and be ready. The Rise of the Netbooks has begun.

Are Social Networks Effective Tools For Marketing Your Business?

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I read a thread on Technibble today on the topic of social networking sites and whether or not using them for marketing your business was actually beneficial. The responses were somewhat mixed but the general consensus was that they are. Interestingly, the individual who posted the initial query was not a fan of sites such as Facebook and had reservations about using it for business purposes. This is not an unusual position.

I have talked with a number of tech business owners who have no interest in social networking. In their view, sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter seem to be mindless diversions or a waste of valuable time. They are also somewhat intrusive. They don’t want their personal lives publicly displayed on the net for all to see or search for on Google. They don’t want to market their businesses in a fashion that to them is perceived as “unprofessional”.

I have also talked with those who wholeheartedly embraced social networking either on a personal level, a business level, or both and who invest a lot of time daily to exploit this type of public exposure to its maximum potential. They are not afraid to Twitter the day away or publish the most mundane details of their lives on Facebook with the ultimate goal of building online relationships with family, friends, associates and complete strangers for fun, profit or both.

 I certainly do not subscribe to the notion that social networking as a marketing tool is a bad thing or a waste of time. Neither do I think it is always the best or the only way to go. I do, however, think that utilized wisely, social networking on a professional level can be a very useful and effective tool in marketing your business. The key, as I view it, is the approach.

There are businesses that do quite well with sites like Facebook and Twitter. They have developed relationships with their customers on more than just a professional level. Using social networks these relationships have become both more professional and personal in a positive way. By monitoring social networking sites these companies watch and listen to customers more closely and customers enjoy a more direct and instant communication with the companies they do business with. This one-on-one relationship is in complete contrast to the typical phone IVR and web based customer service models which typically serve to insulate companies from their customers and their needs, effectively hurting customer relationships instead of nurturing them.

Of course, not every company “gets it”. There are many businesses that jump into the social network marketing model without a clue as to how to do it right and ultimately hurt their reputations instead. This is because, as with everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

For instance, there are a few companies I followed on Twitter that seemed to treat every “tweet” as if it were an ad. Each post was a blatant shout to buy a service or product, often in repetitive, word-for-word carbon copies. There was no useful information in the posts, no links to newsworthy or interesting blogs on a mutual topic of interest, no attempt to engage me personally in any meaningful dialogue. They were all just mindless billboards with sales pitches in 140 characters or less. These are companies I did not follow long and I did not consider to do business with.

I also heard of companies who started out with a less than stellar reputation for customer relationships and turned their reputations around with social networking. These companies followed their customers, listened to the chatter on these social networking sites from those customers who had issues with the company and then contacted those customers personally to resolve those issues and make things right. These companies were actually listening to their customers and responding to their needs. They weren’t selling to their customers, they were building relationships with them – and that is what “social networking” is all about.

There are a few companies with loyal legions of fans and followers who have built their businesses and profits through social networking. Any company can do this if they follow proper social “netiquette” and utilize social networking sites for what they were designed to be – not as conduits for commercials, but as tools for personal interaction with others.

Is social networking a good and viable marketing tool for your business? That all depends on how you use it and how you want to interact with your customers. If your goal is simply to make a quick sale and move on to the next, probably not. If, on the other hand, you’re in business for the long haul and your goal is to develop long-term, meaningful and profitable relationships and develop a loyal customer base with word-of-mouth referrals (the best kind of advertising in any book), then social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are free and powerful tools that can help you achieve that objective.

Tips for building your business in a stressed economy (and why you should follow them)

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I just started to clean my office a few minutes ago and began sorting through a stack of trade magazines when I ran across an issue of ChannelPro from May 2009. I stopped to parse through it and found an article that compelled me to stop and write this blog post.

This is one reason why I seldom clean my office. I get caught up in something I find during the process and go off on a tangent that goes into a completely different project. needless to say I never seem to finish the office.

The article that caught my attention was one written by guest columnist Randall Cochran called “5 Tips For Building Your Business in a Tough Economy “. It wasn’t an unusual title; the general topic  of building businesses under current economic conditions is a common one these days. Everyone seems to have tips, tricks and views on what it takes to start and manage a business under a stressed economy and such an article could easily be lost among many others.

But the first couple of tips caught my attention. Then I skimmed the other three. Then I read the article. It got me started.

The reason it compelled me to stop and blog about it was because it was exactly what we were discussing in FF Episode 35 . Exactly. Point by point, each item pointed out the same principles and advice we covered in episodes 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 34 and 35 of The Force Field podcast.

I wish I could reproduce the entire article here, but I can’t. However, I will paraphrase the 5 tips. You can read the entire article at your discretion.

The five basic tips are as follows:

  1. Educate yourself.
  2. Partner with your peers and other providers.
  3. Utilize vendor tools and resources.
  4. Find vendor programs that fit your business model
  5. develop relationships with your vendors

Now, I understand that the concept of working “in the channel” is a new and alien concept to many of you. There are those who think they are too small and won’t profit from it. There are others who think they are too big and successful already to need it. Either way a lot of providers, from field service professionals, computer shops and small VARs to large system integrators, vertical system resellers and MSPs can all service themselves and their customers by utilizing resources provided by the vendors and manufacturers of the products and services they support and sell.

I have discussions with other providers who are always looking for new ways to market their businesses and find more customers. They are always talking about the tough competition and they are always looking for a competitive ‘edge’. Well, here it is.

A large percentage of providers do not use vendor programs. This means that the minority of those who do already have a competitive edge over their counterparts. Why aren’t these programs utilized more?

Why do the majority of providers dismiss these resources? I could understand it if these tools were outside the reach of these business owners, but they are not. In fact, here are reasons of my own to argue why you should use these resources.

  1. They are free. FREE. They don’t cost you money to join. You can’t beat free.
  2. They don’t require a large investment of time. You use what you need as you need them.
  3. Co-branding opportunities abound. You are associated with your vendor.
  4. They add credibility to your company. You have a relationship with your vendor.
  5. You can better service your customers. You have a higher level of service and support.

Did I mention these vendor partnerships and programs are free? Even if you only purchase the actual products from retailers on the Internet, there are still many advantages to joining these programs from a training and marketing perspective.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Join NASBA . It’s free. Subscribe to ChannelPro . it’s free too. Both of these resources will give you a better perspective of the industry, your competitors and your own business, even if you don’t participate in any programs.

If you want to compete, you need to know what is out there, what your competitors are using and who you can collaborate with to better manage your business, especially in these economic times.

Reviews of service platforms

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I don’t normally write reviews of vendors, contractors and other resources listed in the IT Business Resource Directory for several reasons.  First, the site itself is vendor neutral. That is, The Force Field as a portal does not endorse any specific resource. Second, as a portal, I wanted let the members do it themselve, leaving the praise, criticism or judgement of any specific company or organization to those who work with them directly. Third, it’s a lot of work and I just don’t have time to do it.

While The Force Field remains neutral, I, as a member, also have my own voice independent of the portal. Therefore I can post my own opinions and experiences in my own articles under my own blog or as one of the contributing writers in a review or editorial.

End disclaimer.

There are numerous service venues and platforms popping up on the web. Some are good, some marginal, some questionable and a few are outright scams. Many of our members have dealt with a number of each over the years and have the scars to prove it. As more of these services and companies appear, it is more important than ever to differentiate between the good, the bad and the ugly to protect ourselves, our customers and our businesses.

Therefore, from time to time I will post reviews on these various “platforms” in order to enlighten and protect IT service professionals from mistakes that could cost them more than just money.

Today I will review Service Magic.

About the OnForce OSMI article on the front page of The Force Field

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I know that there will be a few OnForce providers who will raise their eyebrows over the publishing of the press release for the latest OnForce Market Services Index on the front page of the site today, especially in light of recent events. Yes, it is an OnForce-written press release and, yes, I did somewhat unofficially recuse myself from promoting OnForce. That was not the intention of the post.

While the OSMI is primarily aimed at potential Buyers and not Providers, it does contain a lot of information and statistics about the state of the industry that can benefit IT companies on both sides. It is a good use of their resources and, of course, it’s free.

I generally post the OSMI reports specifically for our own edification regarding industry trends, because, whether we like to admit it or not, OnForce, as do all of us collectively, do help shape and influence the overall marketplace.

The reason I posted this particular Q1 2009 report was primarily to use it as an additional source to compare it to our own data gathered from the four part series of The Force Field podcast we recently concluded on The State of The IT Industry.

The results of the OSMI closely mirror and quantify the data and upbeat outlook from all the guests on the shows. This certainly encouraging.

There is another important reason to check out the OSMI. If you look at trends withing specific areas of the industry that are listed, you will notice a few that seem to be poised for further growth. As you may recall, one of the reoccurring themes of the shows in the series was that of finding such areas in which to diversify in order to survive when times were slow in the areas you service.

If you study the OSMI you may find additional areas to move into that are still largely untapped or are potentially profitable and in which you can expand your businesses.

I know this seems somewhat hypocritical to post press releases for the company but I assure you that it is not my intention to actively promote the company. It is simply to take advantage of something they have that we can use to promote our own businesses. The OSMI is is a marketing piece for them and I understand that. It does, however have some statistical data that can prove to be of value to us all and I, for one, would like to make the most of it while we can.

Barrister to bill service providers $100 for tardiness – techs are ticked

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Barrister is frustrating service providers again and this time they are really ticked.

Barrister Global Service Network, which claims to be “the oldest and largest woman-owned computer service company in the United States”, is a national contractor based in Louisiana. The company was founded 1972 and advertises a network of 15,000 techs on the roster who are independent contractors. The company is well established and is well known among field service technicians and IT consultants as a source of contract work.

Barrister had a good reputation with field service technicians at one time, however within the last few years many service providers have complained about poor communication and slow or non-payment for services rendered.

The payment issues were initially blamed on Hurricane Katrina, which wreaked havoc on the entire state in which Barrister is based and all but put the company out of business. However, three years later the company is back in business and seems to be a different company with a different attitude, according to some service providers.

A few weeks ago Barrister surprised 15,000 techs on their network when they sent an e-mail outlining an new Quality Initiative Program.

The following is the content of the e-mail:

“Dear Technician,

Effective Monday, February 16, 2009, we are going to be launching our Quality Initiative Program.  This initiative will reward those technicians that show up on time for their ETA, perform quality work, provide updates and closing information from onsite, etc by sending them more work. 

With the Quality Initiative program we will begin to penalize those technicians that do not show up on time for their ETA, do not perform quality work, do not provide updates and closing information from onsite, or who turn back calls after accepting them.

Effective Monday, February 16, 2009 any technician who is late for an ETA without notifying Barrister, or who doesn’t show up for an ETA will be charged a $100.00 penalty.

As you may know, our competitors offer 100% money back guarantee to their customers in regard to the quality of the technician and the work performed. With today’s economy, we have to be more customer focused and more quality driven then ever before.  

This initiative will ensure our field technician’s representing us are focused on quality as well, and the technician’s that have poor performance will have financial ramifications. “

Some techs are fed up. Many have stopped accepting calls from the company altogether.

The response to the e-mail in tech forums was overwhelmingly negative. Although a few posted positive or neutral comments about their relationship with Barrister, most of them considered the new initiative an attempt by Barrister to circumvent or avoid payment for contract work altogether. This was understandable, since some of them were still waiting for payment for jobs performed months earlier and at least one had been stiffed completely.

I received an e-mail from tbird635 that summed it all up. 

He said: “I got that email too. What really stuck out in my mind were the words ‘This initiative will reward those technicians that show up on time for their ETA, perform quality work, provide updates and closing information from onsite, etc by sending them more work.’ And just where will this additional work come from? I see maybe one a week now.”

He then pointed out another line in the Barrister e-mail that he found ironic.

“And this gem….
‘This initiative will ensure our field technician’s representing us are focused on quality as well, and the technician’s that have poor performance will have financial ramifications.’  Focused on quality??? More like focused on their watches.”

“If I were running late, and knew I was going to get nailed for that $100, I’d turn around and go home and return the favor by giving them an unfinished (and unbillable) job. as well as a P-o’ed customer (who may then seek an alternative to them). 
I think I’ve done my last Barrister job.”

Barrister is listed in The Force Field National Contractor directory under Barrister Global Services Network, Inc..  Members of The Force Field who have performed work for Barrister can rate the company and leave comments in the listing.

I called Barrister today to get their side of the story. After explaining to the operator who I was and what I was calling about, I was placed on hold for 10 minutes until someone audibly hung up the phone.