Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
As you know I'm working with the Unifi AP to get it set up for tablets.
I'll be working on getting it set up and testing it tomorrow.I want to propose to my boss that if we keep selling the tablets, that we start selling Unifi AP's. or atleast giving that option to the customer that we will maintain the wireless network for the tablets through the AP's (obviously I'm still learning but the idea is Im going to be learning more networking basics - Thanks @scottalanmiller and @Dashrender for the wake up call. and Will be setting up the AP's)
What are your thoughts on how I should bring that up, or bring it her attention?
Doesn't your company sell software?
-
@IRJ said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
As you know I'm working with the Unifi AP to get it set up for tablets.
I'll be working on getting it set up and testing it tomorrow.I want to propose to my boss that if we keep selling the tablets, that we start selling Unifi AP's. or atleast giving that option to the customer that we will maintain the wireless network for the tablets through the AP's (obviously I'm still learning but the idea is Im going to be learning more networking basics - Thanks @scottalanmiller and @Dashrender for the wake up call. and Will be setting up the AP's)
What are your thoughts on how I should bring that up, or bring it her attention?
Doesn't your company sell software?
and hardware.
-
I thought infrastructure was not something your company provided?
Who provided the APs in the past?
-
@Dashrender said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
I thought infrastructure was not something your company provided?
Who provided the APs in the past?
Customers are supposed to provide their own. and that turns a lot of them away because "too many hands are on this project and we will just deal with this.. Its a want not a need anyway" and "I'm not paying a networking company to come out here and install an AP. "
But with the push for Pay at the Table, Tablets are starting to come back around.
and We do provide some level of infrastructure, We used to provide sonicwalls to our customers on request, and had them sign a waiver if they were providing their own.
-
It really seems like you need to have two options for customers then - one with infrastructure, and one without. Priced accordingly.
It's a huge fail on your company's part if they aren't meeting the demands of your customers.
And while I know why you sold sonicwalls - you can save the customer a shit ton of money by moving to EdgeRouters - my primary concern with any firewall you might provide is after the sale updates - who's doing them? You should sell the updates for them as part of your service. Unfortunately, ER's don't have an autoupdate feature. 99.9% of those places would likely be just fine with a firewall that self updates (just like 99.9%+ of consumers would as well).
-
Makes sense. For us, at Vetastic, we do something similar. We provide a reference implementation and tell the IT vendor how we recommend rolling it out. make it simple.
-
@Dashrender said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
It really seems like you need to have two options for customers then - one with infrastructure, and one without. Priced accordingly.
It's a huge fail on your company's part if they aren't meeting the demands of your customers.
Agreed, and though it's not my place, im wanting to talk to her about changing that.
And while I know why you sold sonicwalls - you can save the customer a shit ton of money by moving to EdgeRouters - my primary concern with any firewall you might provide is after the sale updates - who's doing them? You should sell the updates for them as part of your service. Unfortunately, ER's don't have an autoupdate feature. 99.9% of those places would likely be just fine with a firewall that self updates (just like 99.9%+ of consumers would as well).
Nope, We now push it to NCR who handles all of the Firewalls for site if they want one from us, They use WatchGuards or Fireboxes, and handle all of that (they have a department strictly for installs and updates)
-
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
Makes sense. For us, at Vetastic, we do something similar. We provide a reference implementation and tell the IT vendor how we recommend rolling it out. make it simple.
that's basically what I want to do, so when I (her, whoever) sales it , we can say : You can provide your own AP, on the network, or you can purchase one from us, that we will set up and test before bringing on site so we know everything works properly.
And price accordingly to both (as dash mentioned)
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
Makes sense. For us, at Vetastic, we do something similar. We provide a reference implementation and tell the IT vendor how we recommend rolling it out. make it simple.
that's basically what I want to do, so when I (her, whoever) sales it , we can say : You can provide your own AP, on the network, or you can purchase one from us, that we will set up and test before bringing on site so we know everything works properly.
And price accordingly to both (as dash mentioned)
Firewall and switching, too.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
Makes sense. For us, at Vetastic, we do something similar. We provide a reference implementation and tell the IT vendor how we recommend rolling it out. make it simple.
that's basically what I want to do, so when I (her, whoever) sales it , we can say : You can provide your own AP, on the network, or you can purchase one from us, that we will set up and test before bringing on site so we know everything works properly.
And price accordingly to both (as dash mentioned)
Firewall and switching, too.
we provide a switch with every install, and My boss believes we should just give it to our vendor, and get the kick back .
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@Dashrender said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
It really seems like you need to have two options for customers then - one with infrastructure, and one without. Priced accordingly.
It's a huge fail on your company's part if they aren't meeting the demands of your customers.
Agreed, and though it's not my place, im wanting to talk to her about changing that.
As a sales person for the company now - it absolutely is your place to bring suggestions on ways to solve problems YOUR customers have. If your company is unwilling to bring forth what your clients want - then you will fail at sales, and as a sales person you should be bailing looking for a company that is selling products your customers want.
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
And while I know why you sold sonicwalls - you can save the customer a shit ton of money by moving to EdgeRouters - my primary concern with any firewall you might provide is after the sale updates - who's doing them? You should sell the updates for them as part of your service. Unfortunately, ER's don't have an autoupdate feature. 99.9% of those places would likely be just fine with a firewall that self updates (just like 99.9%+ of consumers would as well).
Nope, We now push it to NCR who handles all of the Firewalls for site if they want one from us, They use WatchGuards or Fireboxes, and handle all of that (they have a department strictly for installs and updates)
yeah, they use that stuff because there's a ton of profit in it, not because it's right for the customer.
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
, or you can purchase one from us, that we will set up and test before bringing on site so we know everything works properly.
They can't simply provide an AP though - you are creating a private, non internet connected network behind your "server." If they provide the AP, then you have to work with whomever installed said AP to somehow get it to be on your network, or both networks. have fun with that.
Really, You shouldn't sell this system without providing your own AP, period - because of the private network.
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
Makes sense. For us, at Vetastic, we do something similar. We provide a reference implementation and tell the IT vendor how we recommend rolling it out. make it simple.
that's basically what I want to do, so when I (her, whoever) sales it , we can say : You can provide your own AP, on the network, or you can purchase one from us, that we will set up and test before bringing on site so we know everything works properly.
And price accordingly to both (as dash mentioned)
Firewall and switching, too.
we provide a switch with every install, and My boss believes we should just give it to our vendor, and get the kick back .
If you had a product that just dropped into an existing network, then that would be fine - but you don't - you have this private network crap you have to deal with. Granted - the business definitely should be on a network that the public, etc have no access too.
-
@WrCombs said in Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?:
Proposal to my Boss - Thoughts?
......I want to propose to my bossThoughts? Yes, make sure her husband is okay with it!
