Posts Tagged ‘Working With IT People’

Is IT security pushed to the back burner?

Due to a number of problems in organizations, IT security too often gets pushed to the back burner. After a breach happens, IT often blames management, and management often blames IT. A wise friend told me many times, “It is not about fixing the blame; it is about fixing the problem.”

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security on February 10th, 2010.

Tags: computer security, IT Security, professionals, Working With IT People

When you outsource IT, stop paying them by the hour!

To help ensure your IT projects are finished on time and in budget, pay IT outsourcing a flat fee. Do you realize that when you pay outsourced IT companies by the hour, unless you put some other restraints in place, you basically reward them for taking longer?

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices on January 13th, 2010.

Tags: professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People

How to know if your IT professionals are good

Executives often want me to answer the question, “How good are my IT professionals” be they in-house employees or outsourced IT professionals. The first thing I say is, “If the IT professional is like a knight in shining armor, riding his horse in to save the day every time there is a problem, that’s not the best situation at all.”

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security, Save time on January 6th, 2010.

Tags: IT Network Teams, Managing IT Professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People

Are your employees still using single monitors?

Microsoft’s research shows that worker productivity increases from 9% to 50%: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/vibe.aspx

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time, Technology on December 23rd, 2009.

Tags: professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People

Executives say their challenge is fighting viruses

Before every IT Vital Systems Review, I always ask the executives what their challenges are. On a recent survey the CEO answered “fighting viruses.” That’s because it isn’t the executive’s job to fight viruses—that is the job of their IT professionals. It is the executive’s responsibility to protect the assets of the company, employees and clients.

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security on December 2nd, 2009.

Tags: IT network safety, Managing IT Professionals, Network security review, Stopping Network Viruses, Working With IT People

How to buy a Mac and use it at work with Windows

A CEO recently wrote that he would like to use his Mac at work, but his IT professionals do not know how to support it. One solution that many executives enjoy is to run both Windows and OS X on the Macintosh. Read more…

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Technology on September 30th, 2009.

Tags: computer, read, recommendations, Working With IT People

Do you have endearing nicknames for your IT professionals?

I did a review recently for an organization who refers to their in-house IT professional with an endearing nickname. Click here to find out more including what they call him…

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices on September 2nd, 2009.

Tags: IT, IT Network Teams, Working With IT People

Business executives are liable for security breaches

Most executives put the IT team in charge of IT security and then forget about it until they need to approve a capital expenditure.

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, IT Security on June 24th, 2009.

Tags: computer security, IT, IT network security, IT Security, protect, Working With IT People

Portable scanners can help your mobile users

I carry a portable scanner with me everywhere. I can scan in receipts so my capable staff can bill clients. I scan in program evaluations to learn from valuable feedback from audiences where I speak. I scan anything important that I might need again. When I used to collect business cards, I would scan them into my CRM customer relationship management system.

If you or users in your company travel, ask yourself if there are any documents they could scan to increase productivity and improve the service you provide your customers.

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time, Technology on May 13th, 2009.

Tags: IT, professionals, recommendations, Working With IT People

How much should IT companies charge per hour?

“Mike, I pay my outsourced company $75 per hour – is that a good rate?” This is a common question from executives.

The answer is simple: Hourly rates mean NOTHING.

I have seen $40/hour companies spend months resolving simple issues that they should have known how to fix in a moment. At the same time, those companies may sometimes fix problems quickly. I know when I had an IT services firm, we did everything possible to avoid the “paid by the hour” trap. I strongly believe services should be based on ROI – Return on Investment. If you pay someone 100 dollars and get 200 dollars of value in return, that is a great deal!

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Posted by Mike Foster in Best Practices, Save time on April 15th, 2009.