Is Co-Managed IT Right For You?

If you are like most of the CEOs we work with to deliver co-managed IT, your IT person or department is significantly understaffed, overwhelmed and simply not able to keep up with the growing demands your company is putting on them. They also may be lacking in specialized knowledge about any number of things – data backup and disaster recovery, cybersecurity protections, secure cloud computing, complex database management and more.

No one IT person can do it all or know it all.

It takes a small army to run an IT department for a company anymore – and you may be unfairly expecting too much of them, setting them up for failure.

For the reasons stated above, conscientious IT leaders and staff often WON’T tell you they need more money, more staff, more help. They are trying to be good stewards of your company and budget – so it’s up to YOU as the leader of your organization to ensure you are not setting them up for failure or burnout.

Here are 4 early warning signs you may be pushing your IT department too hard:

1. They’re routinely working nights and weekends. Everyone pulls an extended shift once in a while when a deadline is looming or due to a seasonal surge. But if your IT leader and department are ROUTINELY working nights and weekends to catch up, that’s a sign they are understaffed, which can lead to an unhealthy workplace environment, exhaustion and burnout. It can also lead to important details being skipped and mistakes being made.You might not even realize this is happening, so ask them. How often are you working overtime to get things done? How caught up are you on major projects? It’s not uncommon for IT staff to be stressed to the max without the CEO/CFO even knowing about it. This will end up hurting your organization.
2. Projects aren’t getting done on time or correctly. Most CEOs aren’t technically savvy, so it’s difficult to know for certain if a project is taking longer than it should, costing more than it should. All too often, a manager will jump to the conclusion that the employee is incompetent or lazy – but that may not be the case at all. It could be they’re so overwhelmed with tasks and putting out fires that they can’t GET the time to do the project properly.
3. Heightened emotional display, aggression or resentment. Some employees will “suck it up” and push through, not wanting to talk to you about desperately needing more help. Or maybe they HAVE brought it up, only to be shut down and told “there’s no money.” When this happens, it’s easy for an employee to become resentful. You might think that emotion and work don’t mix, but your employees are only human, and will only tolerate so much.
4. They aren’t rolling out PREVENTATIVE security measures. Has your IT leader rolled out any type of end-user security awareness training? Do they enforce the use of strong passwords and compel employees to change their passwords routinely? Have they put together an Acceptable Use document or training to make sure employees know what is and isn’t allowed with company e-mail, Internet, confidential data, etc.? Have they given you updated documentation on the network and an up-to-date disaster recovery plan?All of these are essential preventative maintenance that often gets neglected or ignored when an IT person or department is overwhelmed – but these are critical for insurance purposes and reducing the chances of a cyber-attack or other disaster that would carry significant financial losses and/or hurt your company’s reputation.

Instead of having the concern or running the risk of an overwhelmed IT department, Accelerates offers Co-Managed IT as a partnership for CEOs to get the helping hands, specialized expertise, IT management and automation tools they need WITHOUT the cost and difficulty of finding, maintaining, and managing a large team of staff.

We’re not looking to replace your IT staff, we’re investing to make them better. For more information on a Co-Managed Plan, please visit our website.