On many occasions I have spoken with entrepreneurs and / or executives from various companies and institutions who complain of having hired a provider who failed to fulfill their commitment to provide a solution on the Internet (eg, design of a website, etc.) and that in fact it disappeared without a trace or returning the payment made.
When we analyze why the aforementioned happened, we realize that said supplier did not comply with the minimum elements that must be evaluated before choosing a provider of Internet business solutions, with which failure from the beginning was assured.
Nowadays some companies and institutions choose a supplier for such simple factors as: “it was a boy who knew someone from the organization”, “they visited us and said they knew what they were offering us”, “their prices seemed very economic ”,“ he showed us something that we thought was nice ”,“ we looked it up on the Internet and contacted him directly but we did not evaluate the type of company that supported him ”.
The novelty of what Internet business solutions represent means that many times decisions are made with ignorance regarding the factors that may be the key to the success or failure of said investment for companies or institutions, starting with bad choosing the right provider.
For all this, I would like to explain the factors that must be taken into account when hiring an Internet business solutions provider:
First of all, when you go to hire a supplier you must make sure that they have a solid company that supports them. This begins with the fact that said company must be legally registered, with a business name and a tax identification (eg Tax Information Registry or RIF). That it has a real physical address, with offices and staff to serve customers. With both fixed and mobile phone numbers, have a customer service hours. The idea is that you go to that office and make sure that the company really exists and has the infrastructure and resources to fulfill the commitments it will have when you hire you. Unfortunately, we know of cases in which suppliers have been contracted and these elements have not been verified, which means that, at the time of the breach, it is discovered that they only had mobile phone numbers that they no longer serve, that they never wanted to meet at their offices (simply because They did not have them), that they do not comply with a work schedule or a place where they can be located, that the name of their company was not always the same, nor was it registered, nor did it have a RIF,and therefore there is no way to solve the problem they have gotten into.
Second, you must verify the trajectory of said company, review the portfolio of clients who have trusted it previously, verify the existence of said clients and visit their Internet sites. If possible, ask for references of the services performed and their level of satisfaction.
The provider to choose must be a company with a multidisciplinary human team that ensures the adequate growth of its Internet presence to the extent that it is successful. For this, you must have a Sales team that assists you directly, a Marketing and Content team that ensures that your presence on the Internet will be able to present your message and content in the most appropriate way for your target audience., a Web Graphic Design team that guarantees the ideal visual image for your company or institution, a software development team that allows you to manage functionalities that make your website a true business tool, an Administration team that coordinates what is necessary from the administrative point of view and Consultants with experience in the business world and in particular in the management of them on the Internet.
It is essential to review the portfolio of services or business solutions on the Internet that said provider can provide.You could start crawling on the Internet, but the provider you choose should allow you to walk, run and fly, when your company or institution is ready to do so, without presenting you with major limitations in this process. We know of many cases in which an advertising company or a very small company that only has the capacity to make an advertising website has been hired as a provider, but when it is time to require the integration of said website with basic business functionalities (such as online payments with connections to banks or integration with local databases of administrative systems, among others.) do not have the capacity, methodology or physical and human structure required to achieve these functions,with which most of the time it is necessary to eliminate what was done to start again with a supplier that does guarantee this operation, thus losing the previous investment and the time traveled.
Another very important aspect is that the provider to choose must have their own servers for the hosting service and domains (read our previous articles), and guarantee an online operational availability of not less than 99%. If not, when the provider only supplies the design or the web application but another provides the server and the domains, when there is a problem in these aspects, the so-called Creole "peloteo" begins; that is, they are told that the person responsible is the third party and the third party says that they are the designer, and so on. In general, there are factors that influence for an internet business solution to work correctly, and among them is its compatibility with the server hardware and software and the corresponding updates., which, when separated, can cause many headaches.
Post-sale support is also a determining factor in the supplier's choice. Many times the provider supplies your website and then, when any maintenance, updating or change is required, you do not get the provider and / or there are no adequate means to provide this support. In this sense, the provider you choose must have various support means such as: an Online Customer Support Center (with a support ticket system where you express your need in writing and send your proposal and the answers to it), a Knowledge Base (where you self-serve the answers to the most common questions of these services), an Emergency Call Center (Call Center) and even mobile phone numbers to send text messages to request support in emergencies.
Finally, there are other factors that, due to the size of this column, we cannot list in full, but to conclude, make sure that the provider you choose provides you with added values for the services (documentation, manuals, videos, articles of interest, audio-conferences on the Business on the Internet, training, freed for you to manage its contents and functionalities, etc.). With all this you can rest with the peace of mind that you have put your project on the Internet in the hands of true professionals.
Success for all…
