A question often asked by perspective customers is to verbalize CIO Solutions’ differentiators as an IT Support firm in Santa Barbara. This question stated another way, i.e. bluntly, is “There are a lot of people who claim they can provide computer and/or IT support in Santa Barbara so why should we consider engaging in your services?” I find this discussion interesting because the culture of Santa Barbara itself allows our differentiators to be much different than if we were located in say LA. Most perspective customers expect our response to be technical in nature and for us to tout our Microsoft Gold Partner status or the technical competency of our engineers, although though this is a strength of CIO Solutions it is not the basis of our response since most of our perspectives feel that technical competency is a prerequisite to doing business with us not a differentiator.
If an IT Support firm doesn’t define itself solely by the technical caliber of its employees and services then what make us different? The list of bullet points on this subject is something that I feel is best address in a face to face meeting and not on the web or in an editorial. However what I do want to address is some of the points that makes us unique in the Santa Barbara market.
The first point is length of time we have been in business in Santa Barbara. Our organization has been in business since 1986 and as a result we been through and survived the continual changes in technology as well as numerous economic cycles. In Santa Barbara this is especially important since most organizations don’t want to engage in a business partnership, which is how we view our relationship with our customers, with an IT Support firm with a questionable future.
Customer Service and having IT Support employees that can bridge the gap between technology and business is a must to our clients. In Santa Barbara we have found that this is skills set related to customer service and genuine passion for fulfilling the role of Trusted IT Support Advisor rather than the status quo break/fix technician.
We feel the majority of our strengths stem from how we conduct business rather than the specifics of the IT Support business that we are in. Please comment below and feel free to contact us if you have any questions that we can help clarify.
Eric Egolf
VP of Operations
CIO Solutions