IT’s true value when it goes down

Last week I had a variety of emails that reminded me of a hidden gremlin that exists in our industry - a client will only realise the true value of a service they've bought, after it all goes pear shaped.

They don't really understand the true value of a well planned, organised and implemented product or service, and get drawn in by overpromising sales reps, flashy banners, and big numbers.  It's not until they lose service, require a backup etc that those extra dollars to pay for a premium service or redundancy really start to look attractive - often by that time it's all too late.

Three general examples I've recently see:

• Website stability issues when hosting a website with a free webhost in the States
• Experiencing multiple extended outages on a dedicated server, even when the web-hoster advertises ridiculously high data caps, and pulling through data close to that every month, and
• Losing data after an SQL injection attack on a poorly written site.

The issue we all face is a client's budget never meet the requirements they have.  To help cost cutting they outsource overseas followed up with less-then-reliable hosts, and don't have everything secured properly.  Only after it all breaks, do they come back to you pleading for your help.

If worked correctly, fixing up these scenarios can guarantee a client's loyalty for life.  You look like the good guy, the client finally gets what they are after, and you get that satisfaction from a job well done.

I just hope it's not you undercutting everyone and delivering poor work.