[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Contracts and IT firms - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"
Fri, May 9 2008 9:53 bradley

Contracts and IT firms

Calling out Cindy's comment about how CPA and Attorney firms don't have contracts and so why should IT firms have contracts.

We do have contracts.  They are called in the CPA biz "Engagement letters".  Our malpractice requires that we have them.

They are called a different thing but they are the same goal.  We set the expectation for the business relationship.

..p.s. as I discussed with Cindy afterwards, the IT and MSP industry is so young that from a business valuation standpoint that the impact of contracts would 'weight' a business valuation to a certain degree.  Showcasing that you have a viable book of business would, in my opinion have impact.  Remember that a sale transaction is a willing buyer and a willing seller and given that many of the transactions and deals are private, this information isn't known as well as is can be as a result.

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# re: Contracts and IT firms

Friday, May 09, 2008 1:59 PM by marco

I think the comment was more related to the 'value' of the agreement related to recurring revenue? What's the value of the agreement / practice if there's an 'easy' 30 out.

# re: Contracts and IT firms

Friday, May 09, 2008 9:22 PM by Evan

We don't engage with a Customer under any circumstances w/o an executed written contract. The assumptions, expectations, requirements, and exclusions need to be out in the open at the beginning of the relationship. Nothing good has ever come from "Well, I just assumed..." and "I thought you said..."

Marco's comment interests me a bit. I wonder what he's talking about re: "if there's an 'easy' 30 out." I'd love to hear some elaboration on what that means.

# Interesting Finds: May 10, 2008

Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:15 AM by Jason Haley