3 Ways to Augment Your Current IT Staff

You know how vital your technology staff is to the success of your business, and an IT team that’s stretched too thin could leave you operating with a crutch. You need to remember that your IT staff has incredible control over your company, and that workers who are dissatisfied or overworked could spell trouble for your entire network. Therefore, it’s imperative that you take steps to help your IT operate at optimal efficiency.

Keeping your IT department fulfilled doesn’t have to be challenging. Here are three things that the business owner can do to help their technology team.

If There’s a Vacant IT Position, Fill It
You might have noticed that there are positions in your workplace that aren’t affected significantly by employee turnover. However, IT simply isn’t one of them. A technician is the one responsible for ensuring the functionality of your IT infrastructure, and if you don’t have enough employees hired to handle this daunting task, you’ll quickly fall behind. If one technician leaves, he must be replaced in order to maintain maximum security and efficiency.

Of course, any good worker will take responsibility and work the extra hours required to make up for the absence of other employees, but they shouldn’t need to. Sure, you’re saving money by letting your IT staff work significantly more hours than their salary compensates them for, but working too much is, in fact, a reality that’s all too common for IT professionals. If you force these employees to work too much for too long, the quality of their work might decrease, and they might even grow to resent you for not doing your part and hiring someone to help them out. As the business owner, it’s your responsibility to keep your IT staff happy and motivated, so buckle up and fill those vacant positions as soon as possible.

Keep a Liberal IT Budget
We all know the pains that a limited budget can bring to the table, especially when it comes to IT. If your team doesn’t have the tools required to fulfill everyday tasks, the quality of work might decrease. As the business owner, it falls on you to make sure that the budget allocates enough funds to IT. The administrator who puts the budget together might not always understand what exactly their staff needs to function properly, and he might try to move funds away from IT to other parts of your business that will further augment growth. Naturally, this is the last thing that you want. More growth can quickly lead to increased stress on a network, which likely isn’t getting the attention it deserves with such a low budget.

It’s important to remember that your budget is a big deciding factor when calculating the productivity of your technicians, and an IT department which has all of the resources it needs to function properly will translate to a more efficient workplace for all departments. Your IT budget needs to be a priority, not an afterthought.

Outsource Certain Projects and Routine Maintenances
Short-term projects and routine maintenance can clog your IT department’s schedule, and this doesn’t give them enough time to devote to more important projects, like infrastructure virtualization. One of the reasons IT technicians are hired is so they can help your business implement new strategies that improve operations, and if they don’t have enough time in their day to accomplish this goal, their work and morale will suffer.

With Computerware on your side, we can assist your IT department with short-term IT projects that your in-house staff might not be able to get to, and we can even perform remote routine maintenance such as the installation of security patches or updating your software. This means that your in-house team is suddenly available to tackle those big projects they’ve been meaning to get to.

Computerware has the skills necessary to add value to your technology, and we can help you make the most of both your IT staff and your budget. Computerware can give your technology team the backup they deserve with managed outsourced IT services. Give us a call at (703) 821-8200 to learn more.