One of our biggest potential client segments for Virtual IT are IT people that have built up their own contract-based consultancies.  We're IT people too, and we've put together Virtual IT as a way to eliminate many of the things that make IT inefficient and needlessly difficult.

A good friend of mine, and former co worker, started a consultancy of his own about 5 years ago and has a few clients he's been thinking about shifting over to our Virtual IT product.  A week or so ago, he sent me the following email:

* Note:  If you're not an IT provider, don't read ahead!  ;-)  This particular friend was feeling a bit jaded when he wrote this.

---

1. I wouldn't have to meet my client today in order to activate his HOME laptop.
2. When a client asks for something you know is a bad idea, you have the option of saying "That is not supported in this environment." You have more leeway to "corral" them away from bad decisions.
3. You always have the fastest "desktops" and don't have to worry about old hardware and slow machines: The server infrastructure is always kept up-to-date to support new clients.
4. If, like tonight, I need to install an "upgrade" version of some old software the client wants, that REQUIRES the old CD/DVD be placed in the drive, without desktop virtualization this is a real headache. With DV, all we need to do is "pop in" the ISO to the virtual CD/DVD drive.
5. Less working at nights and evenings: you don't have to wait for users to be off their machines. You can deploy updates on a different virtual machine or just setup a new virtual machine - easily!
6. No waiting for new machines or hardware to arrive. You just click and deploy!
7. Even with Windows 7, I'm still at a client's tonight building an image with the right drivers for their specific hardware - still a pain in the a**. And I'm still here!!!
8. Electricity savings to the client: you don't have a bunch of servers with all the cooling requirements.
9. No need to leave physical desktops on either for special users.
10. No need for a "server room." Use the space for an extra employee!
11. More secure: You don’t have a server room to keep under lock and key.
12. More secure: You don’t have physical backup drives, or even servers, or laptops with local data that can be stolen.
13. Not having to deal with f****** – sorry, let me rephrase that…f******, m***********, a*******, w******, c******** f****** pieces of s*****, WIRES and cables and b******** inaccessible cell phone chargers and other b******** taking up space on the out-of-reach power strip behind some massive antique writing bureau that weighs 900 pounds. Not having to deal with that, is a big ol’ Pro.  (you can tell I’m having a bad night at this stage).
14. Everything is under lock and key at the data center, and the client can’t push buttons, pull out the power, or otherwise fiddle around with servers or networking equipment.
15. Not having to deal with installing new monitors, video cards, and drivers on people’s desks, and dealing with personal “inspirational quotes,” labels, stickers, trinkets, and all the other junk that people leave on and around their desks and plugged into their computers 
16. Not having to get down on your hands and knees and write down service tags while setting up computers.
17. You don't get to know all the janitors in the Bay Area, from your endless late nights toiling at client sites.
18. You don't have to deflect questions about the JANITORS home computer!
19. You don't have to worry about computers going to sleep - and then being unable to wake them without visiting the client site, fiddling around with Wake on LAN, magic packets, and other such nonsense.

• Dual monitors?
  • Fully supported (up to 4 screens).
• CardScan?
  • (Card Scan is an old-school business card scanner).  Fully supported using USB redirection.
• High volume scanning.
  • Depends on the specific need.  Scan to Email is a fantastically simple way to handle this issue.  You can get more sophisticated too:  we've successfully setup VPN tunnles from the client site to their Virtual Infrastructure to handle this need.
• Adobe CS3 and creating MPEGs, movie files, and flash videos.
  • If you are on a relatively fast link (10+ Mbit downstream), these applications work fine via the PCoIP protocol.  However, PCoIP presently requires a site-to-site VPN in order to work across a WAN.
• GoToMeeting? GoToWebinar?
  • Both work great.