Streamlining IT operations would be relatively easy if you had unlimited money to spend and a rich pool of talented, qualified candidates to hire. Unfortunately, these days, most departments are struggling with staffing limitations and budget restrictions.
How can you streamline your IT operations during this time?
How to Streamline IT Ops Despite Staffing Challenges
These are the most important strategies you can utilize when trying to streamline your IT operations:
- Start with the low-hanging fruit. When you start optimizing your IT operations, look for the low-hanging fruit. There are probably dozens of ways for you to improve the efficiency of your IT systems that don’t take much time, but could substantially increase your efficiency and productivity. For example, upgrading your hardware, scanning for viruses, issuing software updates, and addressing bulky, problematic processes can get you started in the right direction.
- Audit your existing processes and workflows. Next, take a deep dive and audit your existing processes and workflows. IT processes and workflows tend to emerge over a prolonged period, gradually evolving from a relatively simple state to a ridiculously complicated one. These eventually hog resources and jeopardize your plans for efficiency. Automating workflows, simplifying processes and eliminating whatever you don’t need can make a big difference.
- Hire an outside partner. An outside partner for server management services could be exactly what you need to address this issue. External IT firms serve as an extension of your IT department, effectively resolving your staffing issues from the moment you hire them. Most IT consulting and IT service agencies have scalable, flexible plans, accommodating your needs at every step; if your business continues to grow, you can utilize them for more services, and if you begin hiring more people for your internal IT team, you can always scale back in the future. The point is, an outside partner should be flexible and capable of helping you streamline your IT ops regardless of whatever staffing challenges you’re currently facing. Hiring an outside partner may seem nominally expensive, but it’s usually much more cost-efficient than trying to hire new staff members for your own organization.
- Introduce more automation tools. Speaking of automation, employ IT automation whenever it’s possible to do so. Automation allows you to eliminate the need for manual effort, while simultaneously making your work more consistent and predictable. Just make sure you select the right tools and optimize them appropriately, as a single automation mistake can have devastating consequences.
- Crowdsource and incentivize ideas from the team. You don’t have to streamline your IT ops completely on your own; consider crowdsourcing ideas from the team by incentivizing individuals on that team to generate novel ideas. What would your other leaders and staff members suggest for streamlining things?
- Step up your recruiting efforts. If you believe your IT performance is held back by the size of your team, consider stepping up your recruiting efforts. How are your recruiting strategies performing? What seems to be holding you back? Is there a way you can make working for your organization more appealing? Is there a way you can reach a broader pool of potential candidates?
- Get feedback from existing team members. As you start to employ more solutions, consider conducting surveys to better understand how your existing team members feel about them. Are your solutions working as intended? Is your approach to IT streamlining effective? Are there more opportunities that you’re currently missing?
- Focus on KPIs. When it comes to streamlining IT, you need to remain as objective as possible. That means focusing on key performance indicators (KPIs) and using them to appropriately analyze the effectiveness of each new strategic change. Do you notice a measurable difference in network performance or other important areas after implementing something new?
Remaining Adaptable During Challenging Times
Adaptability is critical for success in IT – and even more so during challenging times. Streamlining IT isn’t a one-time process; it’s an ongoing effort. Here’s how you can make that ongoing effort more adaptable, and therefore, more effective:
- Avoid overcommitting. Avoid going “all in” on any individual tool or strategy. It’s important to remain open to change in the future.
- Prioritize effectively. Some issues are simply more valuable than others, either because they’re more directly related to your company’s bottom line or because they’re more accessible. Prioritize effectively.
- Plan for the long-term future. Every decision you make should be favorable for the long-term future; don’t get caught up chasing issues that are only relevant in the short term.
If you’re having trouble streamlining your IT operations with a bare-bones team, your best bet is hiring an external IT partner. They can make up for your staffing shortages and professionally recommend the tools, processes and strategies necessary to get the results you need.