The Questions Every Business Leader Should Ask When Shopping for a Technology Advisor
At StrataCore we don’t research, comment on, or knock our competition.
We encourage you to check us out and check them out. However, to ensure you are comparing apples-to-apples in your decision-making process, we urge you to ask the following questions of a prospective advisor, and to listen carefully to their responses. That includes listening for what is and isn’t said.
1. What is the company's culture?
According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, StrataCore is the 3rd Best Small Business to work for in the state of Washington. At StrataCore we believe a great culture is the cornerstone for great employees and happy clients. Have you ever tried to get great service from a disgruntled employee? We believe only exceptional and fully engaged employees can consistently satisfy enterprise clients.
2. Do you guarantee your services?
We are not afraid to stand behind our work, which is why we provide a $10,000 Client Satisfaction Guarantee.* If a client works with us for 1 year and isn’t satisfied, as defined by the client, then we will write them a check for $10,000. Simple as that.
*$10,000 Client Satisfaction Guarantee is subject to eligibility
.png?width=300&height=300&name=1%20(1).png "1 (1)")
3. Do you have a proven process?
At StrataCore we have a proven process. On a typical project, there are over 40 key steps in the client journey including: Current State Analysis, IT Infrastructure Assessment, Commercial Terms Review, Usage Review, IT Services Road Mapping, Market Trends Analysis, Niche Provider Research, Side-by-Side Cost Analysis, Vendor Risk Analysis, Next Generation Technology Analysis, Fake Redundancy Analysis, Manual Reverse Auction, Contract Negotiations with Plug & Play Language, Bill Issue Escalation, Post Sales Support, Renewal Assistance, Ongoing Analysis, Ongoing Support, Technical Issue Escalation, Peer-to-Peer Network Building, and much more.
4. Do you provide detailed side-by-side cost and technical analysis?
We don’t just get quotes. We take our data seriously. Some say we take our data to an obnoxious level. Our clients love it. We believe great data produces great decision making. There’s so much inaccurate and missing data in our industry. We fill in the gaps, verify accuracy, and lay out the information in an easy to understand apple-to-apples analysis.
5. Do you have access to over 50 "service specific" subject matter experts?
Clients need partners who can go deep across a wide range of specialities. No single person has all the information. At StrataCore, not only do we have our own in-house technical, legal and industry experts, we also have direct access to very experienced “service specific” subject matter experts.
6. Can you provide client testimonials?
Some companies might try to convince you that their client relationships are confidential to explain why they can’t share testimonials. Beware of these companies. At StrataCore, we have written and video testimonials readily available for review. We can also put you in direct contact with our current clients.
"StrataCore brings a lot of market knowledge so we can negotiate deals faster and with consistent quality. They have a passion for doing what's right for our business."
Rob Gray, CIO
Big Fish Games
7. How many projects do you work on per year?
We work on over 650 projects per year. We log and track every project. This provides an unprecedented depth of historical data and overall experience. Chances are incredibly high that we recently completed projects very similar to yours. We advise and source more IT Services in a week than a typical enterprise does in a year.
8. Do you provide post sales support?
We build clients for life. What this means for you: If your company has a unique issue, problem, challenge, threat or opportunity, you don’t have to solve it on your own. At StrataCore, your 3-person Account Team is supported by a much larger team. We find that we have more leverage with the providers than any single client. That’s due to the sheer size and type of our client base. Providers know they must keep our clients happy, or they risk losing much more than just one client.
9. What tools fo you use?
We have numerous tools to help empower clients. Just to name a few: Network Diversity Analysis, Service Specific Technical Comparison Checklists, Service Provider Comparison Matrix, Geographic Services Location Finder, Prewritten RFPs, Fiber Mapping Tools, Low Pricing Benchmarks, Plug & Play Replacement Contract Language, TCO Analysis, O cial and Uno cial Escalation Lists.
.png?width=300&height=300&name=1%20(2).png "1 (2)")
10. What percent of your business is international?
Our clients are large multinational organizations. As a result, 50% of our business is outside the United States. We’ve completed projects in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England, France, Germany, Japan, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, Israel, Russia and many more. Doing projects in the United States is relatively easy. True international experience is the di erence between the minor and major leagues.
11. Does your team have at least 10 people with over 15 years experience each?
We’re a team of industry veterans that far exceeds this necessary criterion. We understand the behind the scenes dynamics across numerous service providers. Our team is full of people who used to work at the major providers, such as Sprint, Savvis, XO, Speakeasy, ColoCenters, Digital Fortress, Frontier, Level3, Verizon, AT&T, CenturyLink, and US Military Cyber Defense
12. Do you have pre-negotiated Service Provider agreements?
All our clients have lawyers, but they rarely have the specific legal subject matter expertise related to Data Networks, Hosted Voice Services, Cloud Services, Datacenter and Cyber Security. To bridge this gap, we pre-negotiated dozens of provider agreements. We also drafted plug & play language to address the 35 primary contract issues we regularly encounter. We are the only agency with an in-house legal team. We know that clear expectations prevent problems, and a good contract is worth more than its weight in gold.
13. How else can you help me be successful?
Clients have so much to focus on and so many constraints. Sometimes clients just want to talk to other clients that are facing similar problems. Everyone has struggles. Learning how similar companies addressed the same issues can save months of e ort. We find that our clients truly appreciate our Client Peer-to-Peer Discussions. We have a very impressive client list. If you want to jump on the phone or have co ee with one of your peers - we can set that up.