The Future of IT Services. Article 3 of 6
Hi Everyone! Steve here. CEO of IPSOFACTO for 21 years now. This morning a fine young fellow asked me what I did for work. I said I founded an IT Services company in 1997. He asked how it was going…
I started IPSOFACTO when I was 26. We worked on IBM Token Rings and carried little screwdrivers in our pockets; to change the 0’s and 1’s on Network Interface Cards (NIC’s). In fact, we did this so often, it was a full-time job. Everyone used Lotus Notes for Email, and yes, ‘mo-dems’ were actually a thing; the top security stuff of James Bond.
Token Ring (OMG, yuck)
When ‘self-configuring’ Ethernet cards came along, I said “uh oh, we’re out of business”. But I was wrong!! In came the Exchange Server and Microsoft Office; software integrations, SQL databases and the Tech Boom was on! Apple once produced junk that never worked. Microsoft made software that was full of bugs. Hardware died. Software evolved. IPSOFACTO was needed; we grew like crazy.
1st Cell Phone User in SF, Day 1:
In 1997, I was one of the first people in the WORLD to get a Motorola star-tac phone and was almost killed while talking & driving. I was yelling at my assistant for not sending out the package before 11am….I looked up and saw TWO 18 wheelers about to crush me. They had no idea what I was doing, since they’d never seen a cell phone, or worse, a 26 year old tech-boy talking on one in his car. Why I would just roll into that intersection…
Then and Now:
15 years ago, IPSOFACTO had 25 employees and was a growing IT firm. We had $30,000/mo invoices to clients and did millions of revenue. We built and managed IT networks for clients who had had dozens of in-house servers, multiple offices, hundreds of workstations and firewalls, routers, and WiFi Equipment everywhere. All their tech budget went to us, Dell, and Cisco.
Cr-Apple and Greedy Microsoft
But the Apple and the Microsoft came in with the cloud, environmentally toxic-but-pretty brushed-grey laptops, and office 365. They saw the money IT Services was making and set out take it away, using very strong marketing and very shiny buildings. Career IT employees with 15 years of studying and working were replaced by youngins in guru tee-shirts. And our 15 year partnership at Apple, servicing their crappy hardware for years and years, was cancelled in 1 week….. 15 years…cancelled in 1 week. ‘Cr-Apple’. Then in came Microsoft with their Cloud hosted email for $15/mailbox. BTW, if you’ve got 300 employees, that’s $4,500/mo going to Microsoft. That’s a shit ton of money, which people give to MS now, but not to IT Services. No wonder MS stock is $250/share. Hope you got some.
Thank you Cr-Apple and Greedy Microsoft
But that above paragraph, that’s like the IBM Token Ring going away. I’m glad it’s gone. IPSOFACTO doesn’t compete with Apple retail ‘gurus’ (which is so embarrassing…being called a ‘guru’ yet knowing almost nothing about digital technologies…I hope they don’t have college diplomas, working in retail for such a mass Chinese exploiter making environmentally toxic hardware).
The Brave New World of IT Services
What’s in IT Services for IPSOFACTO now….We’ve been building companies and managing all their infrastructure (big picture stuff), buildings and offices…maintaining building floor-by-floor infrastructure: Cabling, Wifi, security, electrical, low voltage, meeting spaces, conference spaces, POPAs, announcement board systems, A/V, Development, WeWork insanity, projects, and of course, ‘I can’t access the Google anymore, I’m dying, where’s my porn [sic].”
Put down the Prada and Pick up the Hard Hat
Since 2010 at IPSOFACTO, we speak hard hat. We’re not Prada-pusses anymore. We get dirty and go to dirty job sites. We work with cement guys, plumbers, cablers, electricians, ex-cons, gangsters, and even the government (by far the worst). After all that tech is in a building, IPSOFACTO will manage it; making sure it stays alive, up-to-date, and perfect. Now there are loads of technical requirements baked into building codes. Did I mention ‘smart buildings’, or high security buildings? SO much installed technology is afoot.
Hello New aFoots
So we keep moving the needle forward! Good bye IBM. Good bye Apple. Good bye Microsoft. Hello BIG WiFi! Hello Broadband. Hello Streaming. Hello security. Hello new technologies, in cars, planes, homes, buildings, classrooms, universities, airports, streets, inside trashcans & TVs’, everywhere. Take a look, there’s lots to do. IT Services morphs forward.
Be well friends,
Steve@ipsofacto.net
