If you take a casual attitude towards the design or installation,
you could cost your clients unnecessary money and waste time with
unnecessary long-term troubleshooting issues and devastating downtime.

When
it comes to laying the proper foundation for a reliable network, voice
and data cabling is as important as pouring a solid foundation for a
building construction project.

But how can you ensure you give
your small business clients the best voice and data cabling options
that fit in with your overall solution ... especially if you are
coordinating services with an outside vendor and acting as their
outsourced IT manager or virtual CIO?

Consider the following 3
tips that can help you be a great "go-between" for your clients and
ensure your technology solutions work well for them, even if you are
working with outside vendors for voice and data cabling services.

1. Map Out All the Parts of the Project and How They Fit Together. 
First, you need to know how to get from Point A to Point B.  But you
also need to know all the intricacies of the steps along the way, even
if they are not being carried out by you personally.  You have to know
exactly what Point A and Point B are.  Then you have to figure out how
the overall project can be broken down into phases and who will be
doing what, including which outside vendors you will be using and what
you will be able to do in-house.  To be a real virtual CIO, create a
technology roadmap for your clients and be in total control of how it
is executed.  And be sure to communicate regularly with any outside
vendors you use throughout the course of any project so you are all on
the same page.

2. Allow Ample Time for Voice and Data Cabling Projects. 
Smooth IT projects do not happen magically.  Major systems upgrades are
generally carried out over the course of several weeks and sometimes
even several months.  And when you are coordinating voice and data
cabling with outside vendors, you have to do a lot of advanced planning
and pay close attention to a lot of interrelated details.  You also
have to understand that while you might have a specific timeline in
mind for completing a project, you can't always expect that other
vendors will have the same exact idea, or that your timeline will even
be reasonable for them.  As an effective virtual CIO, you need to be
realistic about timelines and work with all members of your team to
develop a definite plan before the start of the project.

3. Prepare for Potential Problems with Conservative Time and Money Budgets. 
Seasoned virtual CIO's and project managers learn to spot potential
problems before they evolve into major catastrophes that can
drastically increase budget and time spent.  When you are working with
other companies that provide voice and data cabling, you need to make
sure any outside companies you use are doing their jobs in the
agreed-upon amount of time and for the agreed-upon cost.  If you are
watchful of every component of a big project, even those pieces you are
not doing yourself, you can handle most unexpected problems efficiently
and expediently.