Answer: |  | | Wrong question! If this is the first thing you are worried about, you're not ready for anyone, let alone us to do IT work for you. Why? This question, is legitimate in the right circumstances. However, right at the beginning of looking for IT help is not the right time for this question. It usually means the person asking the questions doesn't have a clear idea or understanding of why they are looking to take on the project to begin with.
IT projects are done for a simple reason. Information is the lifeblood of any business. IT projects are an exercise in making the flow of information through a business more efficient.
Here's an example:
Let's say that business "A" is a business selling widgets. Let's also supposed that business "A" needs a day to process an order. They take the order by telephone. It's written on a form by a salesperson. The forms are gathered up at the end of the day and taken to the warehouse the next morning.
Let's also say that there is a business "B" that happens to sell widgets too. It takes business "B" only 30 minutes to process an order. They allow their customers to order in a variety of ways, via web, phone or mail. Everything goes straight into an ordering system that ties the inventory to the sales system.
Now, guess which business is paying more to process an order? Guess which business is more likely to lose an order?
The correct way to evaluate any IT project is to figure out the ROI (Return on Investment). This way, the question is not "How much does it cost?" It becomes "How much sense does it make for me to do this?" |