The purveyor of sub-standard hardware
Simon Chapleau – Former CEO, Green Elephant
The not so helpful-desk
IT help-desks haven’t got the best of reputations. Many colleagues find them lacking in courtesy or in some cases just outright rude. While there may be edge cases where this is true the reality is that many help-desks are simply stretched to their limit. It’s understandable that they’re not overly impressed with being interrupted when they’re dealing with an open ticket list as long as their arm as well as being involved in digital transformation projects. The issue is multiplied for help-desk teams that service both internal and external customers. Not only are caseloads higher but priority has to be given to paying customers over colleagues. The feeling of being of secondary importance can lead to internal users resenting their help-desk.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. With a server-led approach first of all technical issues are minimised. With processing power coming from the cloud and everything accessible in one place there is massive reduction in performance and connectivity related tickets. Also, with the server-led approach managed services come into their own. For instance, Desktop 365 is a solution built and supported by cloud infrastructure experts Atlas Cloud. Much of help-desk support can be totally outsourced to the expert service desk as Atlas cloud, allowing IT teams to progress with more pressing projects and have more time for an internal user if they’ve jammed the printer for the 5th time that week.
The innovation bottleneck
So, how can we turn the IT naysayers into ‘yay’sayers? First of all, as previously mentioned, the server-led approach can help to free up some of their time to work on change projects. But looking beyond this it can also simplify the onboarding of new systems and services. Proposed on-premise applications can be virtualised to benefit from being powered by cloud-based servers. Proposed SaaS applications can be secured and controlled. Desktop 365 can bring it all together into one easily accessible yet secure workspace, so IT needn’t worry about compromising the network, or data breaches, or whatever it is that’s feeding their reticence to implement change. Bottleneck cleared, innovation unleashed, productivity and profits supercharged.
The IT crowd
One of the biggest problems many IT teams face is their internal branding. The ‘IT brand’ is something that they certainly have control over, however, marketing is generally not a strong suit. Similarly, IT is not a forte for many of their colleagues, and herein lies the problem. Most users of IT are unable to comprehend or navigate the vagaries of what is involved in IT nor the conditions and restrictions under which the department must work. All they can see is system downtime and stagnating projects. Because of these issues IT teams have become known as ‘the department of no’. They appear to be siloed off from the rest of the business, in part because often they’re physically housed on a different floor or a dusty corner of the office, but also at times because they view themselves as being a different breed.
There’s plenty that IT can do to redress the balance here. First of all, IT should become a central hub for any business, they should be visible, approachable, and integrated with the rest of the business. In order to achieve this communication is obviously key, keeping colleagues up-to-date with ongoing projects and helping them understand the pressures the team are under can go a long way to developing understanding, empathy and a more collaborative environment. Beyond this, technology can undoubtedly help. Desktop 365 can take care of so many of the internal IT issues that bog down IT departments as well as remove the fear and risk out of implementing new systems and technologies. This helps IT teams to provide a more seamless experience for their users and also frees up their time to work on transformational projects that other departments are crying out for in order to drive the business forward.
The tech dinosaur
Another likely reason for the unfair perception of IT is the disparity between consumer tech and business tech. In their personal lives people have become accustomed to using the latest technology. Whether it’s the latest smartphone with an app for everything or a new release laptop with it’s sleek look and swift processing speeds, consumers have been spoilt with a plethora of mobile technology which allows them to stay connected anywhere and at any time. Business tech finds it hard to keep up with these expectations and budgets can’t stretch to fancy devices for every user. Similarly, business applications need to be carefully considered for best fit, and sometimes that means working with perhaps not the quickest or most accessible solution.
Desktop 365 can help to bridge the technology gap. By using server power it allows old tech to perform like new tech without having to invest in new devices and also enables the device-agnostic remote access that today’s worker craves. On top of this the virtualisation of legacy and on-premise apps can transform them into an experience more in-keeping with expectations, making them accessible anywhere, any time and a device of the users choosing.
