by Jake Sherrill, Founder and Chairman – Tier4 Advisors
A global CIO told me this about 5yrs ago, “Buying cloud is like being on vacation in another country and knowing you want a souvenir. So you go to the local market to walk around and shop and every single booth has a person saying, ‘Come over here, I’ll give you the best deal.’, ‘Look at this merchandise, it’s the best.’, ‘My paintings are so nice, come here and I’ll give you a good deal.’ At the end of the day you leave with nothing because you’re exhausted from the sales tactics you just endured.” He went on to say, “If I could have a trusted tour guide who wasn’t trying to sell me anything, but took me to the best 3 or 5 booths to look at the merchandise, I would’ve bought more stuff than I would originally intended. It’s the way I feel when buying services and taking things out to RFP. I just need a trusted advisor who can help me (while not trying to sell me anything) with the initial vendor selection, the down selection, and the final vendor selection and negotiations.”
And thus, the idea for Tier4 Advisors was born. Since this fateful day, we’ve managed hundreds of projects.Some recent examples are: a global UCaaS project for a massive payment processor, a data center consolidation for one of the world’s largest media companies, a large health care provider needing help as they “go to the cloud” and procure a 99.999% SLA for their DRaaS solution. Tier4 has also been a part of managed Wi-Fi projects for hundreds of locations across North America and even helped procure SD-WAN, satellite internet, and multi 10G dedicated/protected long haul fiber links for clients moving massive amounts of data across the country and globe.
So the next time you’re in Bermuda, Tijuana, or Freeport think about this story and look for a trusted local who can point you in the right direction. You might actually end up with a few “cool” souvenirs instead of going home empty handed. #Tier4Advisors #ITProcurementRedefined #SimplifyYourProcurement #SimplifyYourWorld #SimplifyYourLife
Tier4 Blog Edition 12: November 1, 2017