How to Start an IT Consulting Business

How to Start an IT Consulting Business

IT, or informational technology, refers to the development and use of computer-based technology. This can mean many different things, starting with the design of computer software and ending with the transmission of information over the Internet or via specialized networks. A consulting business can cover several aspects of the industry or focus on just one, depending on your areas of expertise.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Decide what type of services you will offer. This depends mainly on your knowledge, although it's possible to start an IT consulting business by joining forces with experts in other fields and offering a more comprehensive service. In any case, you still need to make up a list of services offered and a list of services you won't be able to provide (so you can turn down or refer work as soon as you are asked).
   • 2
     Decide what type of IT company you want to start. If you work on your own and freelance for companies, you will have to file your own taxes. If you form a corporation, you will be entitled to tax breaks and government help that you would not have as an independent worker.
   • 3
     Set up a website that looks professional. Have a professional do it for you if you don't have the knowledge, and make sure the site is optimized for search engines. Your website should offer a good view into what your company does, what type of problems you can solve and what the credentials of the people in the team include.
   • 4
     Look for steady work from a single company (or two) rather than small jobs from many different ones. While the small side jobs are great as extras, they may not provide enough income to keep up with payroll and business expenses. Working as an IT consultant for a single company means steady revenue and more peace of mind.
   • 5
     Visit the website of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) for information on setting up a consulting practice that takes advantage of the latest developments in the industry (see Resources below). The ITAA website also offers data on policy issues and membership opportunities for more direct support.
     
     

     How to Start a Computer Consulting Business

     
     

     
     

     This article was created by a professional writer and edited by experienced copy editors, both qualified members of the Demand Media Studios community. All articles go through an editorial process that includes subject matter guidelines, plagiarism review, fact-checking, and other steps in effort to provide reliable information.

      

     
     

     Computer consulting is a hot business. What a consultant does depends mainly on the needs of the client and the consultant's own abilities and limits. From providing software recommendations to businesses to fixing hardware problems, a consultant is in charge of sharing his knowledge and suggestions with a client.

     
     

     Instructions

     1. Establish Your Business

        • 1
          Make sure you're qualified in the field. Just because you have been using a computer for a long time doesn't mean you know enough to start a business providing advice. To start a successful consulting business you should be able to understand the basic functioning of the hardware and keep up-to-date with changes in the market and industry.
        • 2
          Try to get an organization to hire you. Whether they do it on a temporary basis, to supplement their staff or as somebody called in when the need arises to identify problems, the truth is that companies pay consultants high sums for their services. Even if you have your own business with private clients, freelancing for a company can increase your income significantly.
        • 3
          Don't limit yourself. Offer your services in different ways and styles. For example, you could teach workshops to company employees, offer online or phone consultations or as the decision-maker when it comes to software upgrading and change.
        • 4
          Consider hiring a secretary or an assistant to deal with the everyday office stuff, such as answering emails, dealing with clients and filing. The less time you spend on menial tasks, the more you'll be able to network and provide out-of-office help to both companies and private clients.
        • 5
          Decide how you will charge for your services. Most consultants charge a flat fee at the start of their careers. As they become more established, it's possible to charge a monthly retainer or by the hour.
        • 6
          Establish yourself as an expert by providing talks, writing articles on computer and related subjects and by asking for letters or praise and reference from past clients. You can also put out your own newsletter (either in print or email) to keep in touch with former clients and reach new ones.

How to Start a Software Consulting Company

Starting a software consulting company places a consultant in a business which has much potential. Software consulting companies overcome computer software challenges which companies experience on a per project basis, and eliminates the need to have a software specialist on staff. Software consultants can use their knowledge of computers to start a software consulting company and live the life of an independent business owner.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Determine the services you will offer you clients. Figure out what software skills are currently in high-demand by looking at the websites of online computer schools or physical computer training schools in your area. Find these schools online by looking for the phrase "computer schools" on superpages.com. If you are an expert at a particular type of software such as accounting software products, position yourself as an expert in that area in all of your marketing.
   • 2
     Figure out your pricing structure. Research your competition to find out the rates they are charging. Price your software consulting services at or below the rates other consulting companies in the field of software consulting are offering. Consider offering a fixed rate to your clients based on an entire project, rather than an hourly fee.
   • 3
     Obtain a license to do business. Contact the Department of Business in your state to acquire a business license. Find out the amount of any fees which you are required to submit in order to obtain your license.
   • 4
     Purchase marketing materials. Make business cards, flyers, and a website by hiring a marketing specialist or complete these tasks on your own if you possess these talents so that you can showcase your services in a number of different ways. Open a bank account at a bank in your area so that you can present a professional image by using the name of a company you set up with an attorney on your business checks.
   • 5
     Market your software consulting services. Let your circle of contacts know you own a software consulting company. Establish a good reputation among business owners by completing projects in a timely manner for a fair price. Advertise for business owner software consulting clients by dropping off business cards at their physical locations in your area. Hand these business owners a flyer which lists all of the software consulting services which you offer.

How to Start a Network Consulting Business

Network consultants help companies plan, implement, troubleshoot and repair IT infrastructure projects. The network might encompass servers, LANs and WANs, Internet connectivity, telephony and PBX systems, software applications, firewalls and any other equipment or service that allows a company to communicate internally and with the outside world. A network consultant must have a deep knowledge of some portion of IT networking and must be able to work with clients' managers and executives.

Instructions

1. • 1
     Determine your area of expertise and the range of services you can offer. Since consultants are called in to fix specific problems that are beyond or outside the skills of the company's employees, it's imperative that you are more of an expert at your specialty than internal staff will be. This might mean that you have a narrow niche, such as configuring Cisco routers or finding security flaws in enterprise-level web applications. Because of this extreme specialization, network consultants often band together into small consulting firms that can offer a wider variety of solutions.
   • 2
     Register and insure your business. You'll need a business license and should consult an attorney and tax accountant about what legal structure your business should take. Especially if you're going into business with other consultants, it is imperative that you operate as an LLC, LLP or corporation to avoid serious liability issues. Invest in liability insurance, and have a good relationship with an attorney or the EFF. Mistakes happen, and IT infrastructure mistakes are extremely costly and represent potential security risks to your clients. Protect yourself with legal contracts.
   • 3
     Market your services to potential customers. If there is a certification available for your niche, such as A+ or CISSP, obtain that credential. Do research and write a white paper, or present at a conference. Then update your website, bio and all of your marketing materials to reflect the new certification. Your customers should be able to see that you are at the forefront of your field and are a respected authority. Attend networking events--the social kind--and get to know potential customers. People are far more likely to hire experts they've met and can trust than to trust a company website.
   • 4
     
     

     Hire carefully. Each consultant you hire, whether as a subcontractor or an employee, will represent your business to your customers. Select employees and partners based not just on their technical abilities but their ability to interact well with your clients and to provide customer service. As you grow, hire a salesperson to make contact with potential customers and sell your services, but never stop marketing yourself.
     
     

     How to Start a Computer Security Consulting Business

     A computer security consulting business specializes in providing companies with the tools needed to protect their networks, offer safe product distribution, conduct audits and perform testing in regard to distribution and net communications. A consultant who specializes in computer security has knowledge about the working systems encompassed in online networks rather than about the software or hardware of a computer.

     
     

     Instructions

     1. • 1
          Learn about the two security systems that are most requested by firms: safe credit-card processing and data-leak prevention. All online businesses and most companies that operate on a network basis will require safe transactions at one point or another. Security consultants owe over 60 percent of their business to these types of transactions.
        • 2
          Decide whether you will specialize in one industry or will provide consulting services to several of them. The biggest clients often come from banking, finance, retail and health-care sectors. It pays to understand the basic functioning of these industries in order to be able to provide them with the type of products they need.
        • 3
          Set up a website. Unless you work directly for a company or get your clients through word of mouth or referrals, your best chance to land new accounts is to have a strong online presence. This can be achieved through the setup of a strong website that showcases your team's areas of expertise and examples of companies you have helped in the past.
        • 4
          Start with the right equipment. You will need a powerful computer, fast Internet access and software to help you set up security software, watermarking, security warnings and other tools to help companies protect their businesses online. If you don't provide these services yourself, it makes sense to team up with other experts who do, so you can work on referrals to grow your business.
        • 5
          Find out about the local licenses or permits needed to start a consulting business in your area. Some cities require you to register your business, even if you run it from home. In other places, it is enough to have a separate bank account to handle transactions (opened with your business name rather than your own name) in order to establish your professional capacity.

     
     

     If you are looking to purchase a hardware based spam filter, and you are not sure how to judge capabilities against price, then you have come to the right place. There are a lot of hardware spam filters out there, and they are based on many factors. One of these is the system that you are using, depending on whether you run Windows, Linux or Apple's Macintosh OS, there are hardware spam filters which are either bespoke to these systems.
     Some of the hardware spam filters you can use also include features like virus filtering, and anyone in the know should know that spam and viruses come together, especially when a lot of hackers use worms and Trojans to harvest email lists and re distribute them to other sources or spam operators.
     So the best advice is that when you do look at hardware spam filters, you should look at the strength of the features and top of the list should be how customisable the spam options are and how strong the virus filtration and protection system is. Also, it should also be a question of price.
     Systems like the Barracuda are one of the used systems out there and its specs make it a very good hardware spam filter. Other spam filters like SpamTitan are also good in the sense that it allows alot of customisation and options when it comes to your filtering needs, meaning that you can set things like prompting, storage of junk mail and spam, listing of origin I.P's and a whole host of other security options.
     Another brand name that comes to mind is the PineApp mail-Secure system, which is a dedicated mail based spam filtering hardware, managed but their own security networks and all the hassle is taken out. All you need to do is to tell the company what you need and it will set the options down for you. The good thing about hardware spam filters is the fact that they add another level of capacity and since the emails are being handled by the dedicated server, this means that your own email servers are not being stressed by their operations.
     They do everything in real time, which means that your 'allow' list will be immediately forwarded to you while dubious sources and generic mails will be scanned before being given the go ahead to go to your inbox.
     For many, it is a question of control, because while you do want to filter out the useless and junk emails, you also need to do that there is nothing that was missed out. Also, it depends on what you do, and from business owner to casual home user of the internet, there are different sorts of hardware spam filters that are bespoke for your own needs.
     Don't make the mistake of buying the first one you see, or being impressed by features that you don't need. Make the right decision and one that matches you needs, and you will soon see more than 90% of your spam problems disappear.
     
     
     

     What Separates Great IT Consulting Companies From Bad Ones?

     If your company will soon be conducting interviews with IT consulting companies, be prepared for all IT companies to seem the same in some major ways. Number one, all IT consultants will sell you the idea that their solutions are the best. Number two, every IT consultant will tell you that the up front cost is worth the long-term rewards. And number three, almost every IT consultant will seem like they know what they're talking about, their knowledge of the IT arena making it difficult for you to prove otherwise. So, when every IT consultant that you interview begins to seem like God's gift to the IT world, how do distinguish an IT company that walks its talk from one that just talks and talks? According to those who have seen the best and worst results that the IT world has to offer, there are three criteria that separate great IT consulting companies from bad ones.
     Needs Assessments
     Before a consultant proposes specific solutions, he or she must conduct a needs assessment of your company to know exactly what those solutions should be. Needs assessments commonly focus on the following areas, among others: human resources, competition, company revenue, market share and positioning, customer feedback, management feedback, staffing and employee turnover and company mission, goals and objectives. Basically, a great consultant examines your company from every angle to arrive at solution that won't throw a wrench in the gears somewhere down the line. If a consultant doesn't propose a needs assessment, it probably means one of two things: the consultant wants to make a quick sale or the consultant is unfairly judging your company based on companies that he or she served in the past.
     Probing Questions
     Because almost every company has a different mission and set of goals and objectives, as well as a different past, the first duty of an IT consultant is to ask lots of probing questions that pertain to every area of a needs assessment. Just as your company begins the IT consulting process not knowing what solutions to expect, an honest IT consultant begin the consulting process not knowing what solutions to offer. But the more questions a consultant asks the more the ideal solution comes into picture. Make no mistake: a consultant that doesn't ask many questions isn't someone who has it all figured out, but someone who has a false sense of confidence, if they even care about the best solution in the first place.
     Generic Solutions
     Sometime during the course of your company's IT consultations, you may come across a consultant who only offers solutions that you've already heard of (i.e. off-the-shelf software and hardware). While off-the-shelf products can usually offer companies a measure of success, they aren't tailored to meet a company's specific needs as revealed by an in depth needs assessment, which is the point of hiring an IT consultant in the first place. In many cases, a consultant who peddles off-the-shelf- solutions works for a company that has a business relationship with the maker of those solutions, meaning that the consultant is more of a salesperson than a true IT consultant.
     

     If your company will soon be interviewing IT consulting companies, there are a few signs of mediocre IT companies that you should be aware of, beginning with the fact that reputable IT consultants will always recommend an in depth needs assessment to arrive at the best solutions for your situation.