“For that money, I’ll hire someone myself…”

You probably know the drill. A potential new client who labels you as “too expensive. This also happened to me recently. The title of this blog is what I was told. But I love learning moments like that. So I decided to write down whether or not apples and oranges were being compared in this case. “On the rebound,” could also have been the title. So be sure to read to the end:

One person or an entire team?

A modern, secure workplace today is anything but simple. You need knowledge of identity & access management, endpoint security, compliance, user adoption, Microsoft 365 … and the list goes on.
So the question isn’t, “Can I hire someone?” The question is, “How many people do I need to hire to get all that knowledge and experience together?”
And believe me: that’s usually more than one FTE!

Through my work as a Microsoft MVP, I have had the opportunity to work with many organizations and projects over the past few years. Especially in the area of workstations, security and compliance. This means that I bring not only the knowledge, but also all the lessons learned. Mistakes I’ve already made and solved once, you don’t have to make again. That not only saves money, but more importantly time and frustration. In addition, I think, because of my input, project teams can be smaller. It possibly alleviates an already high workload.

A safe modern workplace project is never ‘finished’

What I often see is that organizations form an internal project team. Everyone puts their wishes on the table. That sounds democratic, but practice shows that this often leads to a kind of ‘child with a water head’: a workplace with too many functionalities that are hardly ever used, or with solutions that mainly help one department move forward but add little value for the rest of the organization. The risk of such a large project team is that you build mainly based on political interests and not on real need. You can end up with an expensive solution that does not provide sufficient return on investment.

So something gets built, and then it’s done. Management happy, everyone thinks the workplace is safe, and attention moves on to the next challenge. Yet, symbolically, you can end up “stuck with the fix. That requires explanation:

Security and modern workplaces are never “done!” Cyber threats change daily. New updates bring new risks. In short, a secure workplace requires constant attention. With Secure at Work, we ensure precisely that your environment is not only in good shape today, but also tomorrow and next year. And by being critical of possible “overkill,” workplaces are set up more simply, and thus more securely. So let us help you think about secure and modern workplaces right from the start of a project.

The job market doesn’t help you either

On top of that, specialists are scarce. The chances of quickly finding someone with exactly the right knowledge are slim. And if you succeed, how do you guarantee continuity when that person leaves? With Secure at Work, you’re not dependent on random availability, but have a proven, automated approach that keeps going.

On the rebound

The question of whether I am “expensive” is not about rates. It’s about value, like:

• The time you gain by not having to reinvent the wheel.
• The difference between a workplace that appears secure and one that is truly resilient to current threats.
• The costs you save by preventing downtime or incidents.
• Expensive consulting hours that you don’t waste on an overkill of requirements from an oversized project team.
• The certainty that your investment will continue to be relevant tomorrow because your workplace is constantly being developed according to current needs and requirements.

Was this an apples to oranges comparison?

I would be happy to talk it through with you.

Please contact us if you wish.