YES! You Still Need an IT Department
I read an article the other day and it really got me thinking. The article discussed how as technology gets more and more advanced, the need for IT departments is becoming obsolete. I don’t want to cite the source because quite frankly, I couldn’t disagree more with this article if I tried! It is true that technology exists and evolves to make our lives easier. But isn’t it also true that the more sophisticated technology gets, the more IT support users will need? I do believe that IT department jobs have a different makeup than they did 5-10 years ago. And I am sure in another 5-10 years, it will be completely revamped again as well.
Today’s IT workers have to focus on delivering applications to various endpoints through various means, all while balancing usability and security. Mobile technology does give users more autonomy, but IT is still required to manage and secure that technology. The proliferation of new endpoints and cloud computing is ushering in a new age of IT, which is ensuring IT departments will remain busy. It is critical to keep track of how users access, share, store and secure content from all their different devices, operating systems and apps. This becomes a challenging job for IT admins because all users think different and react different to situations. There needs to be established security and privacy policies that meet the requirements of all departments. Ransomware is becoming more sophisticated and attacks are on the rise. Protecting your organization and data is now much more of a job now than it has ever been..
Outside of emerging technology trends, the real world for most organizations mean they still rely on legacy desktop software and systems, and they will for a very long time. IT has to manage all of that, and that is no small feat. Legacy systems are no longer supported by the manufacturer of the software, so the burden lies solely on the organization that has it installed. When an organization finally decides to move off the legacy system, the work is typically 2-3 times more complicated than a normal upgrade would be. Hence, taxing your IT staff just as much as supporting the legacy system was.
These are just a couple things that come to mind when discussing the value of an IT department. Managing setting up new workstations, upgrading and selecting software and hardware, managing unplanned downtime, and fixing user errors are part of the IT staffs job that will never go away. If you don’t currently have an IT department, I hope you have an IT Consultant that subsidizes this role. Neglecting the value that daily full-time IT support can bring your organization cost be a costly mistake. Costly as in more money and resources used later. If you are in need of IT support, 2W Tech has Certified IT Consultants on staff that can help support your internal IT needs.
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Product Info:
Epicor ERP 10
Backup and Disaster Recovery