I often talk to business owners and managers who express frustration with their IT company or IT departments. Many of them think this is normal and just something that they need to put up with. It’s not. If you have good people taking care of your IT, it should be something that you use to make your business better and that you are glad to have in place.
If you find yourself being frustrated by the performance and communication skills of your IT team, you need to change things. Your IT team should have people with whom you have a good working relationship and whom you can trust. They should understand your business and know what you need.
Your IT team should be bringing you business decisions to make based on up-to-date, accurate information regarding the state of the IT industry, best practices, best equipment, and best match for your exact situation.
They should give you documentation about your systems, the security, and the disaster recovery plan you have in place. Knowing these things will allow you to rest easy at night knowing that you’re doing everything you can to be safe, secure, and efficient with your IT systems. Your IT team should also be working with you to create a budget each year so you know that you have what you need, and you know what it will cost. This is what should be expected as normal.
There should be an expectation that user problems are solved and handled in a reasonable amount of time without having to drag you into it to get it solved. These tasks should be happening quietly in the background without your users having to be the ones to bring it to your attention. It may be your responsibility, but it is not your job.
Sometimes I talk to people about their IT, and they say, “Everything is fine.” Then, once we start talking a bit more, we discover that things are not as fine as they originally thought. Sometimes businesspeople get into a situation where they learn to accept suboptimal situations as normal. I particularly uncover issues when security, disaster recovery, and IT budget allocation are not the best they can be.
Occasionally, I talk to some companies that really are okay. In those cases, we discuss all the various areas of concern and I find that their current provider or employee is doing a great job. When I find that, I always tell them the way it is and that there is not much more that I can add.
Even when my meetings end this way, the owners or managers learn something. They have a second opinion telling them that their IT is well covered and that they don’t need to worry. They know that their team is doing the best it can to prevent problems and provide an efficient and secure IT infrastructure.
That’s the goal that every business owner or manager can and should achieve. If you need help with that goal, give me a call at 484-443-4000, I’m happy to help, wherever the conversation goes.
