bzarcher | Ok, that was neat.

For the past few months, I've been the IT resource assigned to an RFP for replacing our current copiers (pieces of crap) with shiny new networkable copiers to do more and kick ass.

About 3 weeks ago, I went over the submitted bids, and wrote up why I reccomended a particular vendor's solution, even though it cost about $10,000 more a year than the lowest vendor bid. (Even though, by replacing the current junk, the company would save a MINIMUM of $50,000 a year over current costs with the highest vendor bid, which this was not.)

Today, in a meeting with a lot of people with "Director" and "Vice President" in their titles, I was asked to present my reccomendation and defend it.

I did so, though I really only had to talk for about five minutes, and then use Q&A + what people had already been saying to make my points.

After about 20 more minutes of discussion, the vendor I reccomended was given the buisness, in part because I gave them my backing.

That's a very powerful thing, and really, a bit of a rush that I was allowed to influence the decision as much as I did, when I'm really such a low level functionary in terms of the org chart.

Now, of course, the real work of getting the equipment in, networking plans implemented, and people trained will start. But, hey, bask in the glow for a little bit.