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Hi SpiceHeads!

We’re working on a new initiative to help you with your IT projects. The idea is to create one place to do research, find reviews, and purchase solutions.

This is where you come in: What works best for you in finding the best products and services for your IT projects? Please take a minute and answer the poll below and let us know what you think.

@Google

What’s most helpful to you?
  • Searching for products, seeing reviews, and purchasing using a cart (think Amazon or Newegg)
  • Asking an expert questions and getting quick responses
  • Seeing the best practices for the problem you are working on
  • Seeing how other people solved the problem you are working on
0 voters
39 Spice ups
2

All of the above, but the last 3 choices more than the first. We don’t typically purchase via cart unless it’s for commodity items (like office supplies and miscellaneous networking bits).

14 Spice ups
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I think seeing how others have done it in the wild is a huge help. Vendors are handy but one of the things about what we do is the diversity from industry to industry and company to company so seeing how someone else in our segment solved a similar issue is huge.

9 Spice ups
4

I agree with both Bryce and the Capt…

We use a combination of seeing how other people solved the problem you are working on along with asking an expert questions and getting quick responses.

We try to adhere to using the best practices for the problem you are working on but in our environment, as I am sure it is in others, best practices are great in theory, in the lab and the VM, but sometimes they don’t cut the mustard in the real world environment when it has to work…

3 Spice ups
5

All of the above. I get advice on what I’m doing, see how others have done it successfully or unsuccessfully before me, make sure I’m going about it the best way (best practice), then I check prices and put together a plan. If I’m still iffy I come back to get it double checked and see if I missed anything.

One of the best things about spiceworks is to be able to bounce ideas of people of all different experience levels see what sticks.

1 Spice up
6

Seeing how other people solved the problem you are working on

Nothing better than sharing ideas & problem solving together.

2 Spice ups
7

I work with a full on nerd/technogeek, he is always reading about new tech and such (I don’t think he sleeps LOL). That being said, his ideas are always a good starting point, and we have enough cumulative experience in the department to know who to call if we have further needs.

8

All of the above except the part “purchasing using a cart ”. In my experience, Most of the IT staff I know never buy stuff by just going to a website and load the cart.

1 Spice up
9

I think when it comes to projects, You need a mix of all these elements.

We often look up best practices to solve a problem, we will then have a look at procurement of items required, then maybe speak to vendors and organise deals or meetings with professionals or consultants on the matter and get information from them. While doing this, we will look at other people who have had similar issues and see if we can implement any ideas brought up by the community. We believe consultants have a hidden (or open) agenda in sales and will try to sell you or recommend a product that is probably a bit more than you need, but then you can raise what you have learnt from the community and see what they have to say about that.

But really it depends on your business practices. Sometimes we can’t go with best practices because they’re either not feasible or won’t fit in with our environment, but this is the joy of working on projects. It’s the challenge of getting what you want, for as cheap as possible, and a solution that will work for years to come to make it cost efficient.

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Definitely the bottom two for me. Typically, though, my volume is so low in purchasing, I then go to NewEgg/etc to see what pricing is (which I’m doing right now for an HP mini server for my home lab - lol)

11

Looking for how other people has solved or dealed with the same issue/situation :slight_smile:

12

Google is generally a valuable resource to me in researching new projects. Not the most important but it does come in to play a lot. I like to research what issues may occur during the project with equipment or software before I dive in.

13

I can’t check “all of the above”, but they’re all important:

Seeing how other people solved the problem you are working on.

Nothing beats that when it comes to troubleshooting. I know some people hesitant in searching online for answers, but they forget the “IT guy” is not “IT, Deity of Bits and Bytes and Breaker of Cryptowalls”. We do not know everything. Take your time to look for answers and learn with your experiences.

And don’t forget to document :wink:

Seeing the best practices for the problem you are working on.

This will solve half of your problems before they even happen. Prevention beats a cure.

Asking an expert questions and getting quick responses.

Self-explanatory. This one holds hands with “seeing how other people solved the problem”.

Searching for products, seeing reviews, and purchasing using a cart (think Amazon or Newegg).

I’m pretty sure no one wants to buy a shoddy product to implement a solution, eh?

14

The order of usefulness to me -

  1. Seeing the best practices for the problem you are working on

So much in our world changes quickly. New software, new technology, new security flaws, new hacking techniques, etc. This is definitely useful, especially with the community input from pros and the general attitude of the Spiceheads, not being afraid to make good critical comments about something they don’t agree on and providing the argument of why they don’t agree.

  1. Asking an expert questions and getting quick responses

YES! Many of us are a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” So sometimes that really particular database problem or that really in depth AD Group Policy issue can be frustrating and time consuming to fix. Maybe its a switch or router issue, etc. Although a lot of this is pretty well achieved with the forums, a direct line could be VERY useful. Especially with the Spiceworks community and partners.

  1. Seeing how other people solved the problem you are working on

Absolutely a great idea. In our world, sometimes things don’t work the same in practice as they do in theory. I’ve found bugs in implementations, firmware versions, software glitches, etc that cause issues. Sometimes I’ve gone down a winding, treacherous road to solve a simple issue. All I needed was a fresh idea and I may have avoided that. I’ve read documentation and implemented accordingly, only to find, after going through tiers of tech support that the issue I am having is some “one off” bug with an easy work around. When I look further, knowing what is happening, it seems I find all sorts of information about the issue.

  1. Searching for products, seeing reviews, and purchasing using a cart (think Amazon or Newegg)

This could become a more useful thing for some small businesses depending on the buying power that is achieved by the Spiceworks community. The biggest issue here is that there are often discounts, even for small business, by the type of business, certain affiliations, and other such things. We are in the small-mid segment and get some decent discounts from our vendors. Plus, sourcing is usually as easy as I need X of X to do X, what do you have? They send a quotation(s) and I check specifications. I ask for it to be shipped and billed to me. Done.

I am excited to see how all of this evolves. Spiceworks is a great resource now. These additions just make Spiceworks better and better.

2 Spice ups
15

I use the Google machine

1 Spice up
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I use google and figure out how others have tackled the idea and go from there

2 Spice ups
17

Many people said Google. I actually check youtube first if possible to see if anyone has an implementation or a “brag video”. Learned a ton about the Raspberri pi this way. Also saw some great datacenter ideas and got a few cable management ideas from there. When it comes to problems and support, I ask the experts. When it comes to Projects, I like to see what works for others and if I am lucky, a how to on it.

18

I’ve always looked to see how other folks have solved the problem. I just kinda “go down the list” per se, and generally by the 2nd or 3rd solution, I’ve got a god fix in place.

But then, I apply my own level of “guess, test, revise” when looking at a new solution.

19

This is especially true when you have industry specific concerns. Also, being able to pull from the wealth of experience that others may have with a particular problem is much better than hoping that someone who’s got commission on the line is actually recommending what is best for you and not their own bottom line.

20

Thanks for all the great feedback.

Quick followup question: Some of you have mentioned that you don’t make purchases using an online sites like Amazon/Newgg. Do you find the product information and reviews on those sites useful? (as well as the reviews on Spiceworks?)