[PLUG] Remote work on downed server ( Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: March PLUG Meeting: Anatomy of a Mailing List Meltdown )

[Paul Heinlein]

On Mon, 27 Feb 2023, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

> The problem with that is that the assessment itself is biased.  If a 
> business owner is doing the assessment they tend to bias against 
> cost.
>
> But, what happens if a customer calls at the very moment your 
> receptionist's PC is crashed, and she says "sorry I can't help my 
> computer is down" And that customer says "no problem" hangs up, 
> calls someone else, then over the next decade develops $200k of 
> business with that vendor?

In this hypothetical exchange, a business owner who didn't realize 
that a single PC would make or break a significant customer 
relationship would in all likelihood not be in business for very long. 
If your core competencies depend on 100% uptime during business hours 
of all your computing systems, you're in a business that will sooner 
or later demand commensurate IT spending.

> Lost opportunity cost.  It's not easy to quantify so the business 
> owners doing the assessment on new gear tend to discount 
> $downtimeRisk.  Which is why So many small businesses remain small, 
> to be perfectly frank.
>
> Personally as a 1 man shop I'm OK with remaining small.  But if you 
> are a small business owner who employs others, you have a 
> responsibility to provide continued employment for them, and that 
> means prioritizing $downtimeRisk.  At least, that's my take on it.

It's not that I disagree with your assessment, but I don't back off my 
initial opinion that most IT decisions are based on risk assessment, 
not technology assessement. The latter can inform but will rarely 
trump the former.

To pursue the "I get to choose the hypothetical the proves my case" 
tack you took, consider the business owner who is cash poor but 
relatively time rich. Keeping cash on hand can justify the owner's 
need to spend extra time keeping a fragile set of systems working. I 
say "can," not "will" or "must," but I think the point is reasonable.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°22'48" N, 122°35'36" W