Entrants into CMIT’s first-ever technology makeover contest shared some of the scariest, most spine-chilling IT horror stories we ever heard, says Sue Smythe of CMIT Solutions in Everett. CMIT learned something from everybody who submitted a story. Here are a few of the major takeaways:
1. A bad IT guy can be worse than no IT guy at all. When you’re paying somebody to look after your computers, you tend to assume they’re … looking after your computers. This can lead to major surprises when your server crashes, you look for your backup files and your slacker IT guy tells you, “Those backups haven’t been working for months. Sorry, I meant to tell you that!”
2. You have to make your computers a priority. Computers, unlike people, tend not to complain or ask for help, so it’s easy to ignore them. But ignore them for too long and they’ll remind you who the boss is. You’ll always be able to find some better use of your business’ hard-earned money than computer maintenance – until you’re stuck with an astronomical repair bill.
3. Success can be your own worst enemy. When your business is growing, you might feel too busy to come up with a detailed IT plan. The next thing you know, you’ve created an ad hoc monster of a network that’s hard to monitor, hard to secure and difficult to expand – instead of one that’s transparent, secure and scalable.
4. If you have a stupendously bad computer setup, you aren’t alone. Every small business has computer challenges. If they say they don’t, they’re probably lying. (Or they’re CMIT clients.)
5. A simple change to your IT systems can have a profound effect on your workplace. A business running massive CRM applications or complex databases obviously depends on technology and will clearly benefit from a tech upgrade. But even those businesses and organizations that might not appear to rely on computers can benefit from a technology overhaul.
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