Don’t single thread IT
IT professionals get to feel like superheroes when things are going well — and supervillains when things aren’t going well (there’s often a lot of yelling). There’s something to remember, though: Superman can’t be everywhere at once, and even he needs to go to his fortress of solitude from time to time.
Does your IT person find themselves unable to plan for big changes because they’re too bogged down by break-fix issues? Are they unable to take vacations where they can actually shut off their phone and laptop? What would happen to your business if your IT person got run over by a winning lottery ticket (no buses here)?
Next steps
- Split up jobs: There are still a lot of people with the old mindset that “my job isn’t IT.” Everything touches IT, and if it’s important enough to complain about when it’s down, it’s important enough to cross-train on. Get yourself some power users. Take those who are the loudest when things go bad and get them tools to help themselves and others in their group.
- Start partnering with a managed services provider: Offload desktop work to them so your IT person can focus on server/cloud-level organizational changes. Or offload server/cloud work on them so your IT person can focus on keeping in touch with your users. And have someone else reboot servers at midnight so your IT person can sleep.
Give your IT person a vacation: C-level executives, if you start working with a managed service provider, your IT person will finally be able to take that vacation and come back happier and refreshed. Also, if they ever do buy that winning lottery ticket, you’ll have the backup needed to keep your business going.
SOURCE: WIPFLI