So over the years I have had the advantage of working in various roles. One consistent thing with all of my roles, I dealt with IT. I learned that a lot of people running a businesses approach IT the wrong way, they approach it as a cost of doing business, but it needs to be viewed in much the same way you would look at your staff. You need to invest in them to get the most value returned.
Starting at my first job, a franchise print store where I learned everything from sales, to running small presses, to compositing, photo manipulation and design, there was an age gap of approximately 15 years, between myself and everyone else in the store, I naturally had the job of dealing with most things IT (both Windows and Mac), in fact, it was the first place that put me on the path to IT, and I will be forever thankful.
From there I moved around for a little while in jobs that were either graphics or sales related, I still had a hand in IT, mostly dealing with issues in house, for smaller day to day issues, or organising with external IT companies whenever anything was beyond my understanding/training.
The big change for me in understanding real IT needs was once I started down the path towards Microsoft certification and working for in-house IT. With a better understanding of infrastructure, I had a better understanding how everything worked together, how systems can be better managed, and that systems needed to be monitored.
Having seen first hand how a smaller company would deal with IT, versus recommended practice, leaves a big gap. For one thing, we used to have a minor issue involving printer drivers. I would spend easily 6-10 hours a month fighting with printer drivers on various computers, just to get items printed out, in the right fonts or colours. Working for an IT solutions company, I have learned that you would configure a server with the correct drivers and default print settings, then have computers connect to that printer. This gives you control over drivers and updates reducing compatibility issues and has an added ability of offering a stable environment, and the option to control who has access to what printer and printer functionality. In less than the time wasted in one month, you could have a printer server offering all these solutions.
The other thing I have learned is that monitoring services allows you to pick up a problem before it becomes an issue. Something as simple as monitoring internet usage can pick up high usage before your internet quota is reached, or detecting infections due to anomolous behaviour.
One other thing I have noticed is that it also helps prevent complacency – the “we do it that way because that’s how it’s done” mentality. One aspect of IT is the continuous growth of the sector, encouraging education and knowledge expansion as different companies vie for a competitive edge, one thing I have noticed in working for a company that deals with in Service Agreements, more so than in-house IT, is the effort to give our clients the edge is greater. This is done in several ways, understanding the client, expanding on what a client wants/needs and ongoing education. The main drive behind this is that we want our clients to trust we have their best interest at heart, not just our weekly paycheck. We do this by not only ensuring that their services are consistently running, but in looking for ways to improve the way they run. Simple things like taking one of their existing setups and expanding it n ways they never considered due to advancement in technology (I would love to give an example, but the ones I have are currently for existing clients, and I would not like to breach their privacy).
Having a junior who is familiar with “computing” is great on a budget, but any company that wishes to grow and have a decent infrastructure, will need dedicated IT. My advice from my various careers is to outsource your IT, and put it on an agreement with a trusted company. I’ve seen all methods in action first-hand and can honestly say that I found the last method to be the most beneficial for the end client.
Farreg 