We're about to start an engagement which requires the use of SMS (probably 2003) to provide the inventory data instead of the usual Altiris CMS (Altiris will be really happy about that, I'm sure - well maybe they could treat us a little better and it won't be such a problem?!?!)... It's been a long time since I touched SMS - should be interesting!  I'm sure it's much better now.  Funny how during the Altiris days I spent most of my time trying to displace it when in pre-sales mode, but when in consulting mode I never thought it was a bad product - it just needed to be implemented properly, that's all.

 

A Vista rollout is what this project is about - should be a great experience because not many corporates have rolled it out yet.

We're putting in a new phone system at work shortly: an Epygi IP system.  I'm really looking forward to this... hopefully it won't be fraught with issues!!!!

One of our consultants recently did some work in India for a very large software company beginning with the letter "S".  Funny thing is, they were really caught in a bind because they had set some expectations with the customer that they could not deliver upon... so of course they escalated it to us.  3 days of solid proposal writing, revisions, re-sending, negotiations on the rate, re-negotiations on travel and expense costs... and we finally got our consultant on a plane to Mumbai.  He did a fantastic job and the customer was happy.

 

Over 1 month later we still haven't been paid.  Said very large software company has decided that they don't want to pay the whole cost of our consultant's accommodation DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ORGANISED THE ACCOMMODATION AT THEIR RECOMMENDED HOTEL!  They think they owe us USD$1000 less than what it cost us.  Never mind the fact that our consultant had to fly overnight, had no weekends whilst there and missed out on time at home.

 

Now, you may say that it's only AUD$1300 and it's not much in the big scheme of things... however, we could have refused the work and then the very large software company would have lost their customer.  It's annoying that in some cultures, there doesn't appear to be any concept of trust in business, or giving people a "fair go" when you save their backsides.  I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I'm now very wary to the point that I don't think I could trust people from this company ever again.