IT contractors: Keep track of your real customer
Your true customer is the person who decides whether to use your services again, regardless of the chain of command
Follow @ITCatalystsDear Bob ...
In last week's Keep the Joint Running, you advised IT employees to think of themselves as independent businesses, "selling" their services to their employers, who are now their customers ("Who's a business and what isn't," March 8, 2010).
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I agree, but I'm curious. Do you think this also applies to situations like mine: government contractors? In this case, an agency is paying a large prime contractor to provide IT support services, so it does at least seem more like a customer service arrangement (which doesn't make it any less annoying, mind you).
And here's another wrinkle: I'm not actually an employee of the prime contractor. That company hired another firm (the one I work for) to bring in more help; I'm actually a subcontractor, which would imply, at least, that I'm giving customer service to someone else giving customer service.
I ask for several reasons: Being a subcontractor creates a lot of confusion as to whose orders I should be following (especially in poorly run places like the one I'm in now). Also, if the prime contractor's employee I'm supposed to report to screws something up, do I treat him like my boss or like my customer?
Argh.
- Sub-sub
Dear Sub-sub ...
When you're a contractor, your customer is the person who holds your contract. Your customer defines value, and you deliver that value. Ideally, you're also in a position to offer input on how the customer determines that value. (It's determined by what you do, of course!)
Your customer's goals may not be perfectly aligned with their customer's goals, but that's built into the nature of the buyer/seller relationship. No problem there, so long as there's no actual malfeasance. For that matter, your goals aren't perfectly aligned with those of your customer either. You want to earn more money for less work, and they want you to provide more work for less money. As I say, this dissonance is built into the buyer/seller relationship.
