(Originally written 04/07/2007)
The Brown Quote is a subject that has humble beginnings in the IT industry. Specifically within the support arena, customers ask for quotations for the provision of their support services. Where insufficient detail has been provided by the customer – for example details such as the extent of their IT estate or the number and scope of support calls that they are liable to place with the application service provider – it is clearly a challenging task to provide a sensible pricing response.
Industry knowledge would also show that support services are the last thing on the mind of IT-guy. As such, the less mundane design aspects of the industry take precedent and their rightful place in the glory chain that is an IT project. Support comes at the end. No one wants to think about it, so the support considerations are left unattended until the project can go no further without addressing them.
So, now short of time and lacking any real requirements, IT-guy comes to the support team and asks for a price to support his system. It is at this point that he receives The Brown Quote – a quote that has been especially prepared for this customer, lovingly and diligently pulled from someone’s arse.
The Brown Quote is believed to have been first officially used in the pricing of a major Scottish IT outsourcing bid in 2005. The bidders obviously didn’t win this business. The brown factor was used as a mechanism to alter the results of calculations when using the Gartner recommended industry benchmarks.
Use of the Brown Quote is spreading. No longer limited to the IT industry it is becoming a commonly used synonym throughout business. For example, when a homeowner is contacting a company to provide a ball-park cost for re-tarmacing their driveway, they may ask for a ‘Brown Quote’ to give them an idea if it is worth pursuing a formal quote from that organisation.
Photographic – Chris Noted:
In the world of professional photography, the brown quote has been in common use. This may have different names, and is often an unwritten rule. Where a speculative quote for services is made to a customer, the brown quote technique is often employed, and where standard charges are in place, a brown modifier can be employed if it is deemed that the client can stand a different charging structure, or where standard charges would not apply. If standard charging structures are deemed a vanilla approach, the more the quote deviates from this, the deeper the shade of brown.
Brown Quote – Not to be confused with…
The Brown Quote is not to be confused with quotations by Rita Mae Brown, such as:
“One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.”
“The statistics on sanity are that one out of every 4 Americans are suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they’re okay, then it’s you.”
“Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer.”
Or quotations by the Lord of Soul, Mr James Brown:
“I only got seventh-grade education, but I have a doctorate in funk, and I like to put that to good use.”
Or the popular beat combo The Lighter Shade of Brown, who’s first album was titled Brown and Proud, which could be considered as a call to arms for the use of The Brown Quote.
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