Why Your Team Should Have A Basic Understanding of Technology

What separates the average PC user from the IT technician who routinely takes care of your technology issues? In essence, the only difference is the amount of technical training. Our years of technical expertise have given us the ability to diagnose and resolve varieties of problems, but we don’t hold our knowledge close to the chest. Rather, we want to share it with you.

When our clients ask us to fix their technology issues, they rarely ask us about the finer details. Most of the time, they find it easiest and most convenient to just let the problem be fixed and be done with it. In terms of efficiency, this approach helps our clients stay busy and lets them save time by not worrying about their technology. However, it also passes on a valuable opportunity to learn more about technology, not to mention why it might be breaking all of the time.

In the grand scheme of things, the ideal goal is for your entire staff to be made aware of the various common IT troubles they might experience during the average workday. By understanding how to resolve basic issues on their own, your staff will bring more value to the workplace by not getting your IT professionals involved. Granted, there will always be those times when the problem is major and only technology professionals should be handling it; but even a slight amount of technical knowledge can be enough to save some time in the office.

In fact, you might already have a similar process put into place. Cross-training is always a good thing, and it can help your team stay productive even in the face of the absence of important personnel. Unfortunately, taking care of computer issues is probably one of the departments that skimps on cross-training due to the incredibly intensive nature of the work.

From an efficiency standpoint, it’s clear that an experienced professional will always be able to resolve the problem faster than an inexperienced worker. However, an IT department is constantly juggling many different responsibilities, and it’s often more efficient for both parties if the average worker is capable of solving a basic issue. While the process of training an employee to respond to technical issues can be time-consuming, it has the potential to save you plenty of headaches down the road.

If you’re using a simple training program, chances are that it won’t appeal to every single person within your organization. Assume that everyone has a varied level of technical skill. There are a lot of variables that can contribute to how skilled a person is with a computer. For example, you might have visual learners who benefit most from watching how something is done, or hands-on learners, who benefit most from actually doing it. People have different abilities to learn new skills, and some might fall behind those who are more tech-savvy.

One way Computerware suggests educating your team about technology is through knowledge management opportunity. This is when the professionals at Computerware walk your team members through how to fix technology-related issues, rather than a simple hand-off of the responsibility. Questions are encouraged and expected.

This method might initially take some extra time for both parties, but you’ll receive a valuable asset: a technically knowledgeable staff. We can help your team understand how to take care of common, low-level IT issues that you might encounter during the course of the ordinary workday.

For instance, maybe an employee might be using a very long file path to access a particular file. We can help them take advantage of the Search feature in Windows to locate rogue files. Many users only scratch the surface of the many different features that applications have, meaning they have quite a few possibilities to improve workflow.

Computerware is dedicated to providing a quality user experience for all of our clients, and we understand the best interests of technology users. We aren’t worried about revealing our trade secrets. We’re not like the break-fix companies that make their clients come to them for any and all problems. We’re happy to make your user experience that much easier and convenient. We want to help you take proactive steps toward keeping your technology problems to a minimum.

Start doing business the right way with proactive and educational IT services from Computerware. Give us a call at (703) 821-8200 to learn more.