CDW launches business technology makeover contest

Tech retailer and service provider CDW has teamed with IBM, Intel and Linksys for an extreme makeover contest called Tech Twister.

Five small businesses will receive $75,000 in hardware and software as well as deployment advice from experts at one of the four companies.

CDW says its goal is to show companies that have been reluctant to try technology that a small investment can go a long way toward improving customer service or beefing up a company’s bottom line.

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Tech retailer and service provider CDW has teamed with IBM, Intel and Linksys for an extreme makeover contest called Tech Twister.

Five small businesses will receive $75,000 in hardware and software as well as deployment advice from experts at one of the four companies.

CDW says its goal is to show companies that have been reluctant to try technology that a small investment can go a long way toward improving customer service or beefing up a company’s bottom line.

To qualify, your company must have fewer than 100 employees and meet the requirements of one of three scenarios. Each of the scenarios is very apropos for today’s home and small business environments - in fact, I think the only thing CDW didn’t address is the potential impact of VoIP.

In the first scenario, “PC Refresh,” you must be running PCs with Windows 98 or earlier, and at least one desktop PC.  This scenario aims to improve business processes by boosting the quality of the PCs themselves. Also, it targets security risks inherent with older computers.

I’ve heard this time and again from small to large enterprises - PCs are so cheap right now, yet redeploying staff to fix them is costly. Therefore, trashing your old systems and buying new ones is often a sound investment.

The goal of the second scenario, “Mobility and Wireless,” is to support mobile workers. To qualify, your company must have at least three employees working outside the office, and no  Internet or wireless Internet connection in place.

This is my favorite as I believe the key to competition these days is mobility - in and out of the office. But here, I think the important part won’t be the equipment itself, but how to best apply and manage it. What applications should you mobilize and how do you maintain parity with your wired systems?

For the third, “Shared Resources,” CDW will help companies access resources across the network and remotely. To qualify, you must have at least 25 employees and 20 PCs but no servers. You can’t even use a desktop PC as a server, CDW says in a footnote. That’ll surely limit the playing field.

Addressing the shared resources dilemma is important. Again, it’ll be less about adding on storage silos and connecting applications than managing access rights and figuring out compliance snafus.

The winners of the contest, which ends Feb. 15, also get to spend time with the sponsors’ networking experts, technical engineers to senior executives, depending on the winners’ needs. Winners will be supplied equipment ranging from IBM ThinkPads and ThinkCentre desktops to wireless networks from Linksys and IBM servers.

CDW plans to track the winners’ progress on its Web site via video and blogs. We’ll also be talking to them, to see what benefits they’ve gained.

If you think you fit into any of those categories, make sure you sign up - $75,000 is a good foundation for a small business makeover.

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