“IT” today is such a vast web of products and services, it is now a big part of our daily lives and instrumental in any successful businesses.
As a result, some people are naturally exposed to a ‘higher’ level of IT (which could mean they’ve fixed an issue on their smartphone or setup some clever kit at home). Maybe this person just really likes technology, reads all the latest blogs and uses off-beat hardware they’ve self-modified.
For this article, lets call this person Dave.
Dave is the ‘go-to’ person in your office. All the staff in the business who have a problem with their IT go to Dave; and he really enjoys being this person. As such, when the time comes to procure new systems or review potential business applications, Dave volunteers to help and as a trusted member of the team, advises the directors into procuring an specific IT system… for all the wrong reasons.
Now its important to understand that Dave is not doing this on purpose, in his head and heart, Dave has absolutely made the right choice. The problem is, Dave is procuring consumer products. He is doing so from random suppliers on the internet, and then configuring them to a level he is comfortable with. It ultimately serves a function but the business is not getting the most out of that investment it’s just made, and its not being backed-up or secured correctly.
For example, Dave will be happy recommending a consumer grade NAS (storage system) to hold your business data on. That NAS doesn’t have any built-in redundancy. It has a standard warranty with no guaranteed time lines and its designed to serve a handful of connections at any one time. If a component breaks on that NAS, you’re files would be unavailable for at least 48 hours whilst you procure another part or system (or recovery data to an alternate location). Would you want your business systems running on this?
Instead you should have a team of trained and qualified experts who are experienced in managing IT systems for many businesses and understand the demands and importance of security, availability and flexibility a modern business requires. A proper review and process should take place before any any investment in IT is made, in order to ascertain what exactly the business requirement is, and what the right options available are to fill that requirement. In most cases the outcome differs from the initial knee-jerk solution. Saving the business a lot of time and money.
Regardless of the size of the business, a process for finding the right IT solution should be a standard operating procedure. We always take our clients through a journey when faced with a requirement, we make it easy and painless, and the outcome is always positive.