[CSL board] thoughts strategic: selling services

[Fred G. Martin]

I love the win/win aspect of (a) bringing the CSL people into the  
community (which is intrinsically rewarding) and (b) serving a real  
need.

Fred

On Oct 13, 2006, at 7:44 PM, kristina_ickes at comcast.net wrote:

> and...area NPOs are struggling to keep abreast of technology and  
> paying a premium for out of town providers who largely cannot  
> empathize with the burden NPO's face to use money for services  
> rather than operations. I can't tell you how many times I have been  
> approached to buy and install Exchange, or Citrix by support  
> companies who make a pretty penny on these big installs, and who  
> largely stand to benefit from the installations since many of the  
> NPO's don't need that kind of firepower.
>
> Thus, it seems to me that there is a market - one that would pay  
> reasonably well with reasonable demands in the area.
>
> K
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: Paul Hansen <paul.hansen at umb.edu>
>
>> On Oct 13, 2006, at 12:18 AM, Dan MacNeil wrote:
>>
>>> For some time Paul has wisely been suggesting that we do more pay  
>>> for
>>> service work generally and particularly around CMS like Drupel or
>>> Plone.
>>
>> Yes I think that getting paid to do things is good. My point has been
>> that it makes sense to take on projects that compliment the core
>> services that the Lab offers-- namely hosting services.
>>
>>>
>>> Since the optional invoices have worked out well and I've noticed  
>>> NPOs
>>> are able to pay plumbers and lawyers without collapsing, I've
>>> relaxed my
>>> need for mortification of the flesh and generally think that getting
>>> paid for some services is a good idea.
>>>
>>> I still don't think that CMSes are the way to go at least to make
>>> money.
>>> Of the 39 organizations we serve, 3 have expressed interest in a
>>> CMS and
>>> with some small help from us, installed one. None of those three
>>> showed
>>> any willingness to pay for help. From my small experience, I  
>>> don't see
>>> the overhead of CMS as being enough easier to use than static  
>>> pages to
>>> justify the effort. There are people already offering 1-click  
>>> install
>>> of various packages as part of $10 per month hosting services.
>>
>> The overhead is minimal and the benefits go beyond offering a new and
>> easier way to update web pages. The point is that something like
>> Drupal can be expanded rather easily so that as organizations decide
>> that they'd like to do new things with their web presence, this can
>> be more easily achieved. And, the CSL can educate and encourage
>> people to use additional services that will benefit them... and that
>> the CSL may charge for. And, once CSL folks get good at modifying and
>> expanding an existing CMS, it will make doing lots of web development
>> projects easier...
>>
>>>
>>> In another about-face, I do think LAN support is something that  
>>> we can
>>> make money with and gain a lot of benefits from.
>>>
>>> Originally, I'd thought the CSL would exist to fill that niche  
>>> between
>>> $10 month web packages and running your own server and that by
>>> visiting
>>> people we would be encouraging people to run their own servers.  
>>> Now I
>>> realize that unless we spend time talking to people, they won't
>>> know our
>>> services exist and we won't know what they need.
>>
>> So why not just give up the hosting altogether and focus on hand-
>> holding (service) and development? What percentage of the current CSL
>> workload would vanish if the hosting services were subcontracted?
>> What other more valuable (something you can't get for $10/mo)
>> services could be provided to CSL customers if this was done?
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Almost by accident, we discovered cbacre.org about to hire a
>>> consultant
>>> to install exchange server so they could read email messages from
>>> multiple places. They were quite happy to switch to using IMAP  
>>> instead
>>> of POP3 instead.
>>>
>>> One persistent problem with CSL morale, particularly VISTA morale
>>> is the
>>> relative isolation of our work. We are a small number of people who
>>> spend most of our time in a basement staring at a computer screen
>>> and work on hard problems. It is also hard for people to understand
>>> that we do work for people who's work is important.
>>>
>>
>> I hear that! computers suck.
>>
>>
>>> Doing LAN support gets us out of the office making new friends and
>>> working on doable problems.
>>>
>>> From the point of view of making money, LAN services like connecting
>>> people's printer are by their nature hard to make a commodity.  
>>> People
>>> are used to either suffering or paying through the nose for this
>>> kind of
>>> support.
>>>
>>> A possible downside is that LAN support is not particularly
>>> original. That's ok, We're not academics, we aim for impact not
>>> originality.
>>
>> We don't need to be original but we want to make the best use of the
>> people and resources that we have. Aside from the fact that VISTA
>> requires that members provide capacity building service, I think it
>> would be best to that the CSL be committed to focusing capacity
>> building services. (OK, pluggin in printers does ad capacity to those
>> who cannot print but you know what I mean.) Even so a certain minimal
>> number of 'come when we call' service contracts wouldn't be too
>> terrible if it means reliable cash flow.
>>
>>>
>>> I've been thinking along these lines for a while, but there is a
>>> 20,000 grant [1] out (due Oct 25) for engaging baby boomer (50 to
>>> 68 year olds) as volunteers.
>>>
>>> [1] http://www.mass-service.org/funding_opportunities.shtml#boomers
>>>
>>> Basically, I figure to:
>>>
>>> 1) Apply for the grant
>>>
>>> 1a) Get the grant.
>>>
>>> 2) Find 8 organizations that want 90 minutes of
>>> LAN support per week.
>>>
>>> 3) find 2-3 boomer volunteers. (elder services,
>>> uml alums, newspaper ads)
>>>
>>> 4) circuit ride for 7 months w/ the boomers
>>>
>>> The 20K will pay us. The baby boomers and NPOs will experience
>>> something like weekly speed dating and possibly make a connection
>>> after 6 months.
>>> People that want more than 90 minutes of support or support for
>>> more than 6 months will have the chance to pay us close to market
>>> rates.
>>>
>>> Potentially, 6 months of revenue and making support contract sales
>>> for some of the 8 organizations will allow us to provide 6 months
>>> of demo support for 8 more organizations.
>>
>> This idea I like very much. Keep the VISTAs cookin the code and send
>> out the old folks (no offense meant) to hold the hands.
>> -PH
>>
>>
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