Jul 31 2008

Stuck Between a Rock - and Microsoft

Published by Ken Stewart at 11:19 am under Business, Technology

Somebody, Help Me Please!I recently made a very unpleasant discovery with my current phone system support agency. As a little background, we moved our infrastructure to a Voice over IP (VoIP) solution about a year and a half ago, and have found it a wonderful productivity tool. We have been able to streamline branch operations and gain insight into call volumes and patterns, whereas before we would just have to guess.

We originally started the process with a very solid consultant, and ended up having to switch servicing agencies due to some logistical issues. The servicing agency was quite adept at handling the issues, and shortly thereafter, the support plan started to come up for renewal.

As usual, I asked my provider to send me a copy of their service level agreement (SLA) for review. This allows me to understand what I’m buying and what expectations they have. Usually, these items are identified in a sales process, but due to the circumstances of the move, this was not the case. In short, my new servicing provider had different terms for than my previous provider.

So here’s the rub, even though my company is paying for service and support, the verbiage indicates than any settings changes, adds, moves, or changes will be subject to additional charges at the hourly billable rate.

Part of the reason I bought a VoIP system was its flexibility in allowing my internal support team to handle changes as we needed to. According to this SLA, I could be charged if I make any changes that inadvertently cause problems.

Additionally, this company does not include support for Windows Updates. While I understand that some systems updates wreak havoc on proprietary solutions built on Windows platforms, but this now forces me to choose whether I should leave my system out of date and vulnerable to attack from malicious parties or incur charges should I follow Microsoft’s own recommended update schedule.

I’m now caught in the middle between Microsoft and a line of business solution - my phone system - which is crucial to our daily operations.

What are your thoughts on this?

I have some more conversations with the executives at my service provider, and I will keep you posted on how things turn out. By the way, this is the same company this post was about too, What’s in a Checkbox.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

  • What’s in a Checkbox
  • Do you understand what your customers are trying to accomplish?
  • Why do you still use Microsoft? (Office vs. Open Office vs. Google Docs)

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    Viewing 4 Comments

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      Dump Microsoft... nothing good ever came from Redmond anyway... well, almost nothing.
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      • v
      Constructive advice, seeing as how all of our line of business applications run on Windows... I might have to pass on that one ;-)
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      • v
      Ken, Not to preach but that's what you get for relying on MS for your mission critical telephony. There is no real reason you have to run your system on a Windows OS. I prefer the appliance approach where the updates are the responsibility of the vendor. And I am also a little paranoid about putting all my eggs in Microsoft's basket. A parallel to this is OS running on Printers and MFP's. MS tried to put windows on this device class several years ago and you see what has happened. MS will always focus on its core business first. When partners utilize its OS for other functions than what MS provided it for they are on their own. The fact that they are would prompt me to have a service agreement that would consider the changes to the core OS effecting the product are the vendors responsibility...because it is what they chose to run the product and therefore a essencial part of the product they sold you. Your solution is not a windows accessory, it needs windows to operate. It comes down to the vendors perspective on cost controls and selling you something at a point in time. The Windows OS is never fixed at point in time. In my mind opensource is far more logical in how they approach working with applications.
      - techman2008@msn.com
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      techman2008, very good thoughts. I would share with you that out of all of my issues with phone systems and other line of business applications - Microsoft has actually been the stalwart platform.

      I come from days of mini-frame systems and Windows NT - which was horribly notorious for blue screening at random... My issue is more to the point of getting stuck in a situation where I do actually feel Microsoft, at this point in time, does understand the overall needs of a business and is not only stable but cost effective to run your SMB business applications upon.

      With that being said, I think I would completely agree that an appliance based model can be somewhat better - again depending upon partners. For instance, I have had stellar results with Barracuda Networks. It is a low cost solution which does exactly what it says it is going to do, and has regular updates of firmware and signature revisions.

      On the flip side, many of the "proprietary solutions" offered by vendors were either too protective and closed, or those higher end solutions, like a Cisco, were at that time more costly both from purchase price as well as ongoing support costs.

      I really liked your example of printers running MS OS's... that strikes a chord with me from the EFI standpoint. I've never been impressed with that b/c those vendors often don't support the OS - which should actually be part of the solution - not my problem to deal with. This ends up resorting to a finger-pointing contest - and I know we all enjoy this.

      PS - the telephony solution is a hybrid model where the phones and switches for pure telephony are appliance based and the VM and Call Management system is windows based. As it turns out, it is very robust in general with the possible exceptions of windows update and lightning strikes ;-)
     

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