SMB = OMG
Holy cow. I just got off the phone trying to talk a former small-business customer off the ledge due to a malfunctioning computer. The story is complicated, but all-too familiar: Small business prefers to "get by" using hand-me-down computers and a "friend" who does their tech support on the side. This "friend" as it turns out, is a teacher at a prominent local community college. After hearing what this "friend" told the customer, I can honestly say that not one of my four kids will EVER attend a comp-sci course at that school as long as I'm (a) alive, and (b) paying the tuition. Really sad, and really scarry.
One thing I have learned about small businesses from being a consultant is the following common truths:
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They rarely have the appropriate computer resources for their business.
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They rarely maintain what meager resources they have.
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They knee-jerk into panic mode if you even suggest they upgrade anything.
I can't tell you how many small businesses operate in a situation where all (and I mean **ALL**) of their critical business data resides on ONE IDE or SATA drive in a typical "desktop" configured computer. Yes, a workgroup environment is the rule of the day. And they rarely do backups. If most people knew just how fragile their information is which is stored in your average law firm, doctor's office, dental office, local retail shop, car dealer, local brokerage, retirement home, church-mosque-temple-or-synogogue, or what have you, they'd crap their pants.
I've been to credit management businesses that had everyone's account and payment records on a "server" which couldn't hold a candle to most people's home computer. They had no backups and no redundancy whatsoever. This is all-too common. How these places stay above water is beyond me. The first disk crash and they're done. I would estimate more than half are operating in a situation where if one disk failed entirely, their business would be damaged or permanently toast. Period. Many law firms in this situation would not only go under, but take so many vital and confidental data with them (Wills, deeds, titles, trusts, contracts, etc.). Imagine a family coming in after one of their parents died and the attorney says "I'm sorry, but your parents' Will was lost when our *server* crashed". Oh yeah- they'll understand (not!).
The sad part of this is the following: An average small business can purchase new hardware at very reasonable prices right now. VERY reasonable. And those costs can usually (I say "usually" here) be deducted from their taxes as an expense. Geez. Even purchasing an online backup solution like Mozy, Amazon, Jungle Disk, or Norton 360, can typically be expensed on taxes. So, there's NO reason NOT to make sure your business is operating on a stable foundation (technically speaking). It's just DUMB. Flat-out STUPID.
So, back to this freaking-out customer on the phone... They have two computers, both run XP, but they call one a "server" (I love it. Reminds me of people that like to refer to their spreadsheets as "Excel Databases"). The "server" runs a scheduled back up to a (don't laugh...) 100MB USB external hard drive. Yes. Ok, you can laugh now. The server backup failed and locked up. Then the desktop failed with a BSOD. Both within 30 minutes. The common thing to both? A disk from a local reprographics company was inserted into each one less than an hour before the problems occurred. What does the "friend" say? He says (wait a minute before you laugh please) "You (the customer) caused this by having IE open on the desktop while the server was running a backup". I offered to step in and try to resolve this but the customer insists that this "friend" has been their IT person for five years, and they don't want to upset him.
It's time to stick a fork in my eyeball now.