It probably goes without saying that with technology tectonics, comes the need to have a competent, trusted IT person to put out the technology fires as they arise. Maybe you need a file off the backup, a new computer or a server repaired – these reactive fires are common and tangible. Every business will want someone that can be on call to respond from time to time as the need arises. This reactive, firefighting work is so prevalent and costly that it is often mistaken as fulfilling all the IT needs for an organization. And for those the low-IT-need organizations, a good fireman is maybe all you need.

Randoms or Standards

Technology is always evolving, expanding and offers a cornucopia of options to choose from. Compare two random businesses that do very similar things and you’ll find very little that looks technically the same. Sure, they’ll both probably have some computers with Microsoft Windows, with some wires and stuff – they look the same to the untrained eye. Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that on a specific, technical level, things look very different. So, imagine you’re a tech support person and you get a call from Customer A who needs a file restored or has a router problem. All else equal, you will see something nearly completely different when you help Customer B with the exact same problem. This is the life of nearly all IT people who help multiple companies. The “randoms” are a huge challenge, especially with the other challenges described already. You’ll find most IT people or companies trying to nudge the companies they help toward a preferred technology and they will configure things “their way”. This is natural and helpful. That said, with the IT Death Spiral, Technology Volatility and these Randoms, it is difficult to make progress with the passive “nudging” of technology. It is usually a very superficial improvement and you really end up with a lot of complexity to manage. More is needed, indeed.

It is critically important for an IT person or company to deliberately establish a detailed standard for the IT environment(s) they are responsible for. This standard needs to be based on the business – i.e. what business risk do we avoid by aligning with a specific technical standard (opposed to implementing technology for technology’s sake). Of course, as technology evolves the standard needs to evolve as well. This is not enough on its own, however. Standards needs to be implemented. The IT function in a business must actively and aggressively audit an IT environment against the standard. Where it is out of alignment, there needs to either be a correction (if that is relatively easy) or a business decision needs to be made about the impact of being out of alignment. There is no third option: invest or don’t and remember firefighting is not investing. With a baseline understanding of where IT stands in your organization, a basic decision can be made about the overall approach.