The BUSKLAW Newsletter

I just finished the excellent article "13 Things System Administrators Hate About IT Vendors" by Jeff James at Petri IT Knowledgebase . Here are those 13 pain points: Sales reps who don't know their own products. Over promise, meet under deliver. It's a software problem! No, it's a hardware problem! One size fits all documentation. Vanishing support after the sale. Putting down other vendors. Configuration fails. Outsourced telephone tech support. Customer-hostile online support. Abusing a monopoly position. Throwing [system] admins under the bus to make a sale. Getting what you pay for. Clueless consultants. Good news! Well-drafted contract documents between the IT vendor and customer can mitigate many of these issues. Here's how: First, the customer should base its selection of an IT vendor on the vendor's written response to a carefully-prepared Request for Proposal ("RFP"). In my experience, IT customers don't s...

When we last left our two IT professionals - Steve the IT manager at Beta Corporation and Bosco the IT lawyer - they were at Brewery Vivant , discussing the business precautions that should be taken when Acme Software's contractors are developing the Next Big Thing software program for Beta Corporation. After downing a modest number of Undertaker  ales, the guys now talk about a contract between Acme (the software developer) and Beta (its customer) .  Bosco: I suggest that Beta have a Software Development and Services Contract with Acme. Steve: That sounds like big bucks in legal fees! And what if Acme refuses to sign it?  Bosco: If Acme is a reputable software development company and is interested in keeping Beta as a customer, they should have no problem signing a contract of this nature with a minimum of negotiation. They've probably signed similar contracts with other clients! About my fee to prepare this contract, because I've drafted similar ...

Here's the scenario. You're Steve, an IT project manager for Beta Corporation. You convinced your CFO to hire Acme, a local software development company, to embed four of their guys on your premises to help your overworked IT staff create the Next Big Thing  software application. The application will use data from your network. But you're worried about giving Acme's guys access to your network! It has a lot of confidential business information, including customer data. You wonder about the business and legal precautions needed to protect your valuable data.  The Acme CEO tells you that everything is fine without a contract (other than Acme's Statement of Work that you signed last week and the NDA that Acme signed when the project went out for bids). Fortunately, you know a savvy information technology lawyer, Bosco, and decide to pick his brain during a few beers Friday after work at Brewery Vivant  in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You are drinking  the  Undertak...