The Micro-IT Department

Does this sound familiar to you ? You’re a medium-sized company, perhaps 50 employees. You’re good at what you do: all your staff are hands-on and committed. As you’ve grown, you’ve gradually increased your use of IT systems, and now you realise you can’t do without it. Well, that’s certainly what your people think, as they’re always complaining to you about it, especially those who work away from the office a lot. In fact, it’s such a big deal now that one of your people does IT almost full-time. The person was a good worker in their previous job, and seemed to know more about PCs than anyone else, so it was a good fit. You’re not so sure now, as IT complaints seem to be rising, and nothing ever gets finished.

You’ve got a micro-IT department: one person who slipped into the job without any real experience or formal training. This works fine when a company and it’s IT demands are not so big, but as soon as IT becomes really important to day-to-day operations, it’s hard for such a person to know what to do and why: they need more knowledge and experience than they have or can easily get. Often, they are enmired in day-to-day support issues, and so can’t find the time to do anything else, let alone think strategically.

Business owners and managers need to recognise when this is happening and ensure that the IT function gets the management it needs. This may mean employing an IT professional to take over the job, which can be painful, although micro-ITers often recognise that the situation isn’t satisfactory, for the company or for them. Experienced, forward-looking IT management enables the business to cut costs and grow. Without it, your people will still be complaining to you at this time next year.

We can help you decide whether you have a micro-IT department, and what you should do about it. Contact us for further details.