IT Field Engineer Start up advise needed.

[ToneAN]

Hi,

I am looking for some advise and feedback on my business model for a IT Field Engineer company that provides on site IT Field Engineers to visit their customers sites.

I am currently an IT Field Engineer in London. I have 5 years experience plus, data cabling experience with copper and fibre, its how I got started in IT. Now I install, maintain and troubleshoot all issues on site from cabling, to cisco routers, to windows servers.

I am moving away from London and I am wanting to take this chance to startup my own company. I am not looking to create a IT support company, but to work with exiting IT support companies in my new location to provide them with the ability to use an experienced IT Field Engineer that they can rely on and trust.

The company I work for have good relationships with other IT support companies in the area and we get work from them when they either need more engineers to visit sites as they are to busy, their engineers need help with a problem etc. This is the basis for my business as we get a lot of work from other IT support companies, with a few who don't have any field engineers at all and rely on us to do all their site visits as we have vans, tools and experience that can be hard to find in IT.

So my question is really, do you think this model could work else where and is there a market for it?

I don't know if my company is lucky with the way they now have companies relying on them to do their work on site as its cheaper to pay for a days work for us then to employ a engineer full time, van, tools etc.

What will IT support companies really think of my services when I approach them?

Any advise or comments would be very my appreciated.

 

[yellowlawn]

So your an employment agency for IT Technicians? Google a site called PCIQ they do a similar thing.

 

[ToneAN]

Hi yellowlawn,

Thank you for you reply. I will not be running a recruitment agency, I will be carrying out the work myself.

 

[Sparx]

The way I read it, the OP wishes to be a self-employed contractor for other companies completing IT field work.

Where are you looking to move to? London will of course be very IT-heavy and have needs for your skills. Unless you are moving to another major city, you may find other IT firms don't have the need for contractors!

 

[ToneAN]

Thank you Sparx for your reply. I will be moving to a place which is in between two majour city's, 45 mins from Belfast and an hour away from Dublin.

I have have only done a small amount of research into the IT market in both city's an there is a skill shortest like most city's for skilled engineers but also they are crowded markets as well with a lot of support companies based in these city's.

 

[Scoped Solutions]

I think the easiest way to get your answer is the old school way - put together a letter explaining your services, send it to all the IT companies serving Dublin and Belfast, then call them to follow up on the letter and see what kind of feedback you get. It's the only way you're going to get a true feel for the scale of opportunity.

Sounds to me like you'll be located just north or just south of the border - so you're going to be flipping between GBP and Euro a lot which you'll need to consider.