Inoculate Your Team Against IT Burnout

Just about every company on the planet today depends on technology. If something goes down, business functions go down with it. That puts a lot of pressure on the IT staff who are responsible for those systems; and that pressure is compounded by the global shortage of technology talent. It’s no wonder IT burnout is rampant.

You can’t hire your way out of the problem. You can, however, partner your way to a better work/life balance for your IT team. The secret is in offloading the tasks that, while important, aren’t really at the heart of the team’s reason for being, so they can focus on what’s actually listed in their job descriptions. Here are a few examples…

Troubleshooting and Escalation

OK, this one may be in some IT folks’ job descriptions, but does it need to be? We all know that troubleshooting is really, really, really hard. Even when you pinpoint the problem and determine which carrier or vendor “owns” it, figuring out the correct escalation process can also be difficult. Not to mention, things don’t break at your convenience. It’s bad enough to have to deal with an issue during business hours when you already have a to-do list that’s a mile long. It’s even worse when you have to drag yourself into work (even just figuratively) in the middle of the night or on a weekend.

If you have a managed services partner with eyes on your systems 24x7x365 and tight relationships with all the suppliers, they’ll be all over any issue that arises—no matter when it happens—and stay with it until it’s completely resolved. That means your team can show up well-rested and ready to tackle their primary responsibilities without distractions.

Technology Expense Management

Let’s face it, telcos and other technology companies are not known for their simple, clear invoices. Those expenses are pretty big, though, so you do want to make sure they’re correct and you’re not being billed for anything you’re not using. But it’s the accounts payable staff who’s responsible for auditing invoices, you might be saying to yourself. Yes, but they’re not technology experts. They don’t know what’s in use. They’re going to need the help of the IT team. If it was just a matter of one or two invoices a month, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but for many companies, we’re taking dozens of invoices. At least. Every. Single. Month. And all the checking, tracking down, and confirming could chew up hours. Those hours add up.

If you have a partner to optimize your technology expenses, your AP team can pay all your bills on time and with confidence, and the IT team can just focus on the technology side of technology. Oh, and if that partner can reduce your overall technology spend in the process…even better!

Budgeting and Contract Negotiations

Speaking of financial and legal stuff, what about contract negotiations? Sure, any given solution only comes up every couple of years, maybe annually at most, but it can be a long, drawn out process and you do have quite of few solutions deployed. Unless you’re intimately familiar with all the complex ins and outs of terms and legalities (and even if you are), it can be massive headache and huge time suck.

If you have a partner to handle your technology contract negotiations, not only will they do all the heavy lifting for you, but they can navigate the nuances to find you better prices and terms.

Access to Expertise

You’ve got a lot of smart people on your IT team. They each have their own areas of proficiency. But today’s IT environments are highly complex, and things can change fast. New products, evolving best practices, innovative approaches—it’s hard to keep up. It can be time-consuming to do all the research needed to be an expert in everything you need to know today, and to stay on top of what’s coming over the next hill.

If you have a partner with a deep bench of technology expertise and certifications, you get instant expansion of your organizational knowledge that you can tap into on a regular, ongoing basis.

Keep Your IT Staff Engaged—and Focused

BCM One, a managed solutions provider, offers managed IT operations and is headquartered in Manhattan, New York.