While it's tough to make much of a profit margin on sales of desktop or notebook PCs, it's next to impossible to profitably sell personal digital assistants (PDAs) to your small business clients.

After all, these handheld devices are generally positioned more as consumer electronics devices than full-blown "computers".

The Popularity of Handheld Devices or PDA's

Nevertheless, today's PDAs, based on the Palm and Microsoft Windows CE OS's are quite powerful. Because of power and flexibility, PDAs have become quite popular with organizations of all sizes. However, lurking behind PDAs soaring popularity are some hidden IT support dangers where your small business clients really need you to step in and save the day.

The Whole World in the "Palm" of Your Hand

In most cases, either your consulting firm or your clients' internal gurus get the first handheld device or PDA support request. Even when an employee purchased the handheld device on his or her own or received it as a gift, they will call on you for support.

Inevitably, regardless of whether your small business clients purchase them for employees, handheld devices or PDAs sooner or later will make their way onto your computer support radar screen.

Will Your Client Fund PDA Support?

Just be sure to have a heart-to-heart with your main client contact person to decide what the "official party line" will be on PDA support.

Consider all the different product and operating system variables when deciding how your company will cost-effectively support PDAs. There are two additional main issues to think about when considering offering handheld device support to clients: data security and desktop connectivity.

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