[Typo3-marketing] OSCOM update and opinion about consultancies

[Michelle Heizer]

Hi Olivier,

Thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate your comments.

I do tend to disagree with the notion that it's a company's job to find the
"right" consultancy. For example, there are thousands of Web design agencies
in the world. How can one company find the "right" one? If we left it up to
them, then we haven't done our jobs. We need to be proactive and make sure
they "find" us. I think we need to narrow down the choices for companies by
providing categories in the T3 consultancy database. A company does not want
to email hundreds of T3 consultants just to find the "right" one. They don't
have the time and we are the ones that need to be promoting T3.

Another example: T3 is being recognized in schools and universities. You
said that you are not really into the education part. So if a school is
looking for a T3 consultant, they could look in the database and find
consultants that specialize in that. If a T3 consultant doesn't want to
specialize in that, they wouldn't be listed under that category.

I think this would save the users who are looking for a consultant a lot of
time and also they would be less frustrated in the process.

At my freelance company, my clients are not solely interested in costs from
the start. We provide "custom" solutions and I cannot give them a set price
in the beginning. If they email me and say, "How much will a T3 site cost?".
I tell them that I need a complete description of their project and goals
first, then I consult them on the best method to achieve this. After that, I
can work up an accurate proposal. For my company we are concerned with the
quality of services before cost. On the other hand, we do offer ready made
templates for our hosting clients. Those come with a set price. Support and
customization are extra. So I do understand your point about clients looking
solely at cost, but you must understand that it is not always the case,
especially with larger companies.

Also, I agree that TYPO3 is still young and that is why I said that these
are things "far down the road", but they are still things we need to think
about now. Daniel is doing a great job setting things up to work correctly
now so that things will go smoothly in the future.  I just wanted to relay
people's concerns that were shared at OSCOM. Let's not forget that TYPO3
still does not have the name recognition of Zope, Midgard, PHPNuke and
PostNuke, etc.(at least here in the US) even though it's been around longer
and, in my opinion, is a better product. This is what we are trying to
change and since consultancies are, for most companies, representatives of
T3, we need to make sure they show T3 in a good light.

I also understand how your company has grown and it's great in such a short
time. Even if we categorize the consultancies, it doesn't mean they can't
recategorize themselves as they grow. In fact, it would be encouraged!

I do like the survey and think that will help things quite a bit. I'm just
worried if you base a consultancy on whether they pay for a listing or not,
you aren't really looking at the quality of their services, but just on
whether they paid some money for a listing. I'd like to think that there is
more to a good consultant than that.

In the internet world, you have people paying for listings in search engines
like Google. How many people think those companies are "good" just because
they paid to be listed there? How many users click on their links just
because they are listed at the top or on the side? I tend to not click on
those links at all.

Of course, if you ask me, I'm still not sure what the best way would be to
judge consultancies! :) I do like the idea that they should be contributing
to T3 community in some measurable way.


Michelle



> Michelle Heizer wrote:
> Hi Michelle,
> 
> Thanksfor your log Mail and Input.
> I will only comment the Consultancy statements, since I'm not to much into
> the edu stuff.
> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> So why is it important to judge a consultancy? Well, from what I've
>> been told from OSCOM, for T3 to be a viable alternative to a
>> commercial CMS, people need to be able to trust a consultancy and use
>> a consultancy.
> 
> You are right, but i think this is also a task of the company seeking the
> consultancy that fits their needs. From my experience potential clients are
> first interrested into costs and not of quality of service or experience.
> 
>> For example, at my freelance company, we received emails from people
>> who have emailed a few other T3 web hosting companies found in the
>> consultancy database but did not get any email back. There was also
>> another US consultant who took on a T3 project and then could not
>> finish it, but the person had made it sound like they could do it.
>> These are not good things for T3's reputation.
> 
> Dont forget that typo3 is at the beginning. With my company we started 2
> years ago with typo3. we learn with each project a little more. I think the
> amount of projects tell also something about the quality of the consulancy.
> Anyhow we do multimedia since 1996 with clients such as American Express,
> Coca Cola, Lufthansa and more....
> 
>> I think, especially for colleges, universities and large corporations
>> to use TYPO3, there will need to be more large scale T3
>> consultancies. Of course, this is something far down the road. :)
>> But I really think we need to categorize the consultants better so
>> that people know whether they are getting someone that will "fit"
>> their project.
> 
> I'm working with Daniel and others to make a Typo3 Survey to find out all
> those nice projects and make a better Case Studies Pages. We think that this
> will boost also the quality of judgement of a consultancy.
> 
> On the other side, nobody anwered answered to my idea, that a small amount
> of money paid to be on the consultancy list, would help to make the whole
> thing a little more serious.
> 
> 
>> Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news from OSCOM and will
>> speak more of it next week. Sorry my letter got a little long. :)
> 
> No Problem....
> 
> Thanks a lot....
> 
> 
> Olivier
> 
> 
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