Time to gut the network - thoughts?
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Remember that the fact that someone markets is not the concern. The concern is that when there is enough marketing (especially to non-IT people) to create a common emotional acceptance reaction in the market place, that there is a super common sales pattern of leveraging that to sell poor solutions (overpriced is a form of a solution being poor) to take advantage of customers in this way. So knowing that this chain of events triggers this common bad advice pattern, we should be wary and pay extra attention and question motives or the advice when this scenario arises.
What Cisco marketing to non-IT people is there? I'd be willing to be most people think they just make phones.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Remember that the fact that someone markets is not the concern. The concern is that when there is enough marketing (especially to non-IT people) to create a common emotional acceptance reaction in the market place, that there is a super common sales pattern of leveraging that to sell poor solutions (overpriced is a form of a solution being poor) to take advantage of customers in this way. So knowing that this chain of events triggers this common bad advice pattern, we should be wary and pay extra attention and question motives or the advice when this scenario arises.
I will give you this. But I guess I take the advice you've stated to be not really advice, but a reminder to "do good business practices" instead.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Again, how the eff does the person find out about the other products if consultants don't know about them.
- You don't always have to know about alternatives.
- First Google hit gives you more info than you need.
- No one should ever be completely without a backup consultant.
- Post to any number of online forums, ask a local business group.
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but Cisco, you need a new consultant, period. They aren't doing the job that you are paying them to do if they didn't even consider an alternative. So in this example, questioning the solution verified our worst fears and you are getting screwed (paying for advice that you are not getting.)
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Remember that the fact that someone markets is not the concern. The concern is that when there is enough marketing (especially to non-IT people) to create a common emotional acceptance reaction in the market place, that there is a super common sales pattern of leveraging that to sell poor solutions (overpriced is a form of a solution being poor) to take advantage of customers in this way. So knowing that this chain of events triggers this common bad advice pattern, we should be wary and pay extra attention and question motives or the advice when this scenario arises.
I will give you this. But I guess I take the advice you've stated to be not really advice, but a reminder to "do good business practices" instead.
Well, it's advice if you already know good business, a reminder if you forgot them, advice if you are not already aware.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
What Cisco marketing to non-IT people is there? I'd be willing to be most people think they just make phones.
Television ads. Billboards. Digital signage at conferences and things like that. Airport ads are super common. Magazine ads in travel magazines, for example. SW ads (little jab there.) It's pretty much everywhere that you would also see a McDonald's ad.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Again, how the eff does the person find out about the other products if consultants don't know about them.
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but
Ciscoa single vendor/product, you need a new consultant, period.
FTFY
OK now that I've changed that - I 100% agree.
Scott's done a good job in the past of saying when he provides recommendations he doesn't just give the top dog.. he almost always mentioned the second and third runners up.
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
....Cisco.... I'd be willing to be most people think they just make phones.
This may be true, but I'd be surprised. I can see why you'd think that. But their phone thing is recent and their marketing (to non-technical people) as the core backbone of the Internet and networking has been very strong, for a very long time. Maybe most people connect them with phones today, but a tonne connect them with a lot of other things.
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Gotta go.. Poker time.
Caio!
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@Dashrender said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Again, how the eff does the person find out about the other products if consultants don't know about them.
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but
Ciscoa single vendor/product, you need a new consultant, period.
FTFY
OK now that I've changed that - I 100% agree.
Scott's done a good job in the past of saying when he provides recommendations he doesn't just give the top dog.. he almost always mentioned the second and third runners up.
Yes, anyone paid to choose the right solution for you that turns out to not even know more than one solution (this doesn't just mean vendor, either) isn't consulting - because they can't be. They didn't even compare two things. They just sold the one thing that they can sell (or advise.) You pay for them to know something. This would imply that they literally know nothing at all (in the context.)
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but
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In a case like that, you couldn't even have them say that they liked the product. What does like Cisco even mean if you don't have something to like it in comparison to?
I like the iPhone? Really, what makes it better than Android? What's an Android?
Doh!
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
Again, how the eff does the person find out about the other products if consultants don't know about them.
- You don't always have to know about alternatives.
- First Google hit gives you more info than you need.
- No one should ever be completely without a backup consultant.
- Post to any number of online forums, ask a local business group.
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but Cisco, you need a new consultant, period. They aren't doing the job that you are paying them to do if they didn't even consider an alternative. So in this example, questioning the solution verified our worst fears and you are getting screwed (paying for advice that you are not getting.)
- Then what is the point of the conversation?
- No it doesn't. It didn't mention Ubiquiti at all, only large players that are very expensive.
- Again, I'll give you $100 if you can find one random consultant (that you don't know) to recommend something like Ubiquiti
- So those would be SW or here in your opinion. Where else would you post?
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- You don't always have to know about alternatives.
- Then what is the point of the conversation?
To know when you need to question why you are getting advice. As I covered in the "how to question" part, it's normally about looking into motivation, not researching the alternatives. That you question why you were told to buy Cisco does not imply that you need to know personally what the other options are or were.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- You don't always have to know about alternatives.
- Then what is the point of the conversation?
To know when you need to question why you are getting advice. As I covered in the "how to question" part, it's normally about looking into motivation, not researching the alternatives. That you question why you were told to buy Cisco does not imply that you need to know personally what the other options are or were.
And that doesn't jive at all with this statement
If your consultant doesn't know about anything but Cisco, you need a new consultant, period. They aren't doing the job that you are paying them to do if they didn't even consider an alternative. So in this example, questioning the solution verified our worst fears and you are getting screwed (paying for advice that you are not getting.)
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- If your consultant doesn't know about anything but Cisco, you need a new consultant, period. They aren't doing the job that you are paying them to do if they didn't even consider an alternative. So in this example, questioning the solution verified our worst fears and you are getting screwed (paying for advice that you are not getting.)
That they have a good logic for why they choose Cisco doesn't mean that they don't know anything else. Feel free to ask them, in your case, if they just say that they love Cisco or if they just say that without even knowing the alternatives. But just because someone loves Cisco doesn't mean that they aren't aware of the alternatives.
Of course you might argue that to love Cisco requires not knowing the alternatives, but I'm not going to bash Cisco here. That's a totally different question.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- First Google hit gives you more info than you need.
- No it doesn't. It didn't mention Ubiquiti at all, only large players that are very expensive.
YOu are assuming Ubiquiti is the singular solution. We aren't discussing that. We are discussing why and how to question if Cisco is the right answer. It would be nice if a Google search gave all answers. But returning the best option is not necessary for this discussion.
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- No one should ever be completely without a backup consultant.
- Again, I'll give you $100 if you can find one random consultant (that you don't know) to recommend something like Ubiquiti
Again, what's with UBNT? It's great, I love them, but how is it relevant to the conversation?
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- Post to any number of online forums, ask a local business group.
- So those would be SW or here in your opinion. Where else would you post?
Well the two big dogs of the market are great places to start, of course. Republic of IT is out there, but very small and silent. There are business forums for nearly every industry and general business ones, too. There is Reddit, of course. There is the whole realm of ServerFault and ExpertSexchange places. Obviously, I'd recommend ML a lot, it's a great place for this kind of advice. But there are a lot of places to go to just get a little info as to where to get more info on some IT buying basics.
Even places like Yahoo Answers exist for people with zero idea of where to go.
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@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
There is Reddit, of course.
Which you have previously said they don't know anything...
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
- You don't always have to know about alternatives.
- Then what is the point of the conversation?
To know when you need to question why you are getting advice. As I covered in the "how to question" part, it's normally about looking into motivation, not researching the alternatives. That you question why you were told to buy Cisco does not imply that you need to know personally what the other options are or were.
And that doesn't jive at all with this statement
If your consultant doesn't know about anything but Cisco, you need a new consultant, period. They aren't doing the job that you are paying them to do if they didn't even consider an alternative. So in this example, questioning the solution verified our worst fears and you are getting screwed (paying for advice that you are not getting.)
Why not? I see no conflict at all? One is about the consultant needing to know alteratives, the other is not. What is there to jive?
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@stacksofplates said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
@scottalanmiller said in Time to gut the network - thoughts?:
There is Reddit, of course.
Which you have previously said they don't know anything...
No, it's decently bad, but it will provide some feedback. You only need a little. Remember, getting alternatives is not the same as getting advice. You only need to know that advice is bad, not get alternative advice that is good (at this stage.)
