IT plays a major role in keeping the wheels of business churning throughout an organization. Yet, when it’s time to mitigate company-wide operational costs, IT departments are one of the first to have their resources cut back. Even with these cutbacks in place, IT departments are still held to the same performance and responsiveness standards as before. –Eric Sheedy, IPsoft
What do you do when IT is considered a commodity in your organization and you’re expected to do more with less? It’s not unusual to find signs of overwork in IT departments. When that happens, the biggest risk is a shift in overall performance.
It’s a standard cycle: Overwork leads to lower employee enthusiasm, which then triggers performance issues. But it’s discouraging when, working as fast as possible and with good performance, the workload seems brutal and they’re always late. The “Why try?” attitude is deadly in an IT department.
In addition to lowered employee morale because of the backlog of never-ending tickets, other signs your IT professionals are struggling include:
- Skipping administrative tasks – Often doing the work becomes so pressing they don’t have time to properly record the job. They slip up on standard protocols, like tracking and evaluating performance. This leads to losing more time trying to reconstruct a project due to a failed process or end-user issues.
- They can only work in the present – They find it impossible to anticipate turnaround time for projects because day-to-day tasks have them stretched too far. No one in the IT department thinks about greater future operability because they are only able to work in the here-and-now.
- Training is pushed back – Professional training and other skills-enhancing opportunities are not pursued. It’s all they can do to handle their daily and ongoing responsibilities. Employees feel too stretched handling high-quantity repetitive Level 1 issues non-stop. This lack of professional growth often leads to higher turnover.
Finding – and Retaining – Talent
Are you struggling with finding and retaining the necessary talent to manage your IT infrastructure? If your IT department is overworked and professional advancement seems like a distant memory, you’ll lose your high-performance professionals to competitors.
“The best people in technology…have a passion for technology,” says McKinsey & Company. These are the professionals you’re most likely to lose when your IT department is stretched to the limit for far too long.
Atrion Gives You More for Less
When you’re almost at the point of waving the white flag, it’s time to take a step back and strategize. For example, using cloud services won’t do much good if you don’t optimize your application design. Do you think you have the in-house expertise and technology to define and support your cloud strategy? Perhaps you do, but your in-house workload holds you back.
Cloud Preparedness and our technical services can give your IT department professionals the time they need to re-focus on your organization’s mission. Do you want business innovation or improved IT delivery? Are you struggling to deliver organizational excellence while under the gun to lower costs?
Talk is cheap. Sometimes it’s free. Let’s begin a much-needed conversation about ways to maximize your IT department within your current budget restraints. Call 908-231-7777 or contact Atrion.
