An IT Support Blog from London

IT staffing ratio - how do the numbers stack up?

In a company of perhaps 20 people or so, many will have taken the view that staff numbers mean there is enough work to recruit an IT manager. However, what do you do before you reach this size?

Many small companies choose to engage external consultants to provide hands-on support. Often these are solo operators, one-man bands. While they may be competent and well-intentioned, there are a number of inherent problems which may prevent them from responding with the appropriate service levels you need to run your business.

The need for vital skills and expertise

One of the key HR concepts in business is to avoid person dependence. Many businesses have experienced difficulties resulting from the inability to access vital skills and expertise, from specific individuals, relied on to deliver services to clients and customers.

Relocations, in any aspect of life, are a stressful undertaking, and even with careful preparation and planning, they cost time, money, and energy. When it comes to moving offices, a lot has to be taken into consideration; furniture needs to be moved or replaced, important documents and files are to be shifted securely and valuable assets have to be relocated without being damaged, all whilst keeping the business up and running and enabling employees to continue working as best as possible.

One major headache for businesses is removing their existing IT infrastructure including PCs and servers and rebuilding it at the new location as quickly as possible in order to not disrupt ongoing business too much. Many companies merely shift their old system from one office to the other when in fact they could not only move offices but also move their IT to the cloud, resulting in various business benefits and a smoother, easier relocation.

IT security and systems availability

IT security is one of the biggest concerns of our time. It might be identity theft from individuals or the hacking of business and corporate networks on an industrial scale by unscrupulous nation states trying to obtain commercial IP or military secrets. Whatever the threat, securing networks against attack is high priority for IT teams.

Besides viruses, malware and hacking, if we look at other factors that impact operational availability of business dependent IT systems, then there are a range of issues which need to be addressed.

Server status and Windows Services, disk space and database sizes are all factors that could  influence a business-critical failure. Storage and back up, the availability of network devices, satellite offices and websites are all hugely relevant.

Commoditised services and low value

In these days of highly competitive marketplaces, customer satisfaction is often the key to business success. Generally we can say a customer is satisfied when the service received exceeds or at the very least matches expectations. But what shapes our expectations?

Quite often it is determined by the concept of ‘value’.In today’s competitive market places commoditisation leads to lower quality services. If the price is appropriate to the service level then the value perception may be seen as reasonable or adequate. However, when the cost outstrips the level of service, then the value perception is likely to be poor. Ultimately, we expect to get what we pay for.

Benefits of BYOD difficult to ignore

Traditionally, businesses discouraged and even prevented employee-owned devices being used in the workplace for accessing company data and services. This was especially true of larger businesses or those with compliance requirements to meet.

Strong business case using outsourced services

Last year saw no let-up in the anxieties over cyber security. Criminal enterprises seem able to distribute malware via email to steal identities unimpeded by the international cyber law enforcement authorities; hackers continue to crack open customer databases of businesses as diverse as TalkTalk and Ashley Madison. It is a necessity for any business on the internet to be able to effectively defend against today’s agile threat environment.

The legal profession and exemplary compliance practice for data

HTL Support specialises in providing technology solutions for the professional services sector. Perhaps above all others, the legal profession needs to demonstrate exemplary practice. Poor practice may have very serious consequences measured in a currency that exceeds the value of mere money.

Strong business case using outsourced services

Service providers of technology solutions are a necessity for today’s businesses. Even if an organisation has technical expertise in-house, it’s impossible to operate without service provision from an external company. It may be internet connectivity; offsite data backup; or cloud applications; but it simply isn’t feasible for an organisation to be self-sufficient and operate in complete isolation.

What is the career ambition of an IT manager?

Unless they are a square peg in a round hole, which means they should get out of it and do something different, it’s a good bet IT managers have their career sights set on moving up in the world. For an IT professional this might ultimately mean the role of CIO (Chief Information Officer) or CTO (Chief Technology Officer).