5 Suggestions to Make Your Business IT More Manageable
It is easy enough for companies to find that expansion creates additional business IT difficulties. Simply the pace of business can mean the staff is almost running to keep up. When things are that frenetic, balls get dropped along the way. If your IT infrastructure, systems, or management are becoming a little unmanageable, here are five suggestions to get them under control again.
1. Use a Managed IT Services Company
Investing enough is tough to do. Having a broad enough team similarly can pose problems. One of the solutions for many SMEs is to work with a managed IT services company. They can provide enterprise-level solutions on a fixed fee basis that fit into a smaller company’s financial budget. Also, they can assess immediate IT needs and prioritize those over other lesser concerns. This can solve current problems faster.
2. Recruit Far More Carefully
A decision has to be made whether the IT team will be filled with good all-rounders who can lend their hand to many different problems or take a different approach. This affects your recruitment strategy. Another way to go is to have one or two generalists, but also employ some staff with specialist skillsets. These additional staff may be able to help on mainstream troubleshooting issues that employees have, but they will also have detailed training and experience in certain topics that match a need. For instance, cybersecurity is a complicated, rapidly changing subject within computer science. Therefore, hiring to fill this need is required over recruiting another generalist who doesn’t have talents or interest in cybersecurity matters.
3. Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome
It is a simple matter to get into the habit of letting the IT staff try out new hardware and software packages as they become available. In this field, that’s often the exciting stuff to get lost in and enjoy learning something new. The only trouble with this is that it’s a distraction from their main duties. Becoming spread too thin is not a good plan with IT. And when regularly trying out a new IT kit, it does just that.
4. Simplicity Over Complication
Life is complicated enough. When expanding the IT capabilities, there is a tendency to let complications go unchecked. Then, when something does go wrong, it’s much harder and usually requires more time to get to the bottom of it. The alternative is to intentionally avoid over-complication. When a simple solution will get the job done, opt for that. When one SaaS or app will be adequate, accept that over letting staff use two or three instead that are only slightly better. It’ll be easier to manage and reduces training time for employees too.
5. Know What You Don’t Know
Getting overconfident can lead staff down dark alleys and to then coming unstuck. Each member of the team must know their personal limitations. They shouldn’t attempt to fix hardware, software, or a troubling configuration when they lack the experience to do so. Have them ask for help, including the help desk of a managed IT service, or senior IT personnel when required. It’s more efficient and avoids losing hours that are best spent elsewhere.
The IT requirements and management of infrastructure can quickly become disquieting when you bite off more than you can chew. Use the above suggestions to manage them better.
