As companies grow, they often want to hire a full-time IT professional. It is often at a point of significant frustration around IT. They figure this person can keep the business running more smoothly by supporting users and maintaining the network and other IT infrastructure.
And it all sounds good in theory. However, most business people have three major challenges when hiring and managing a full-time IT professional:
1) Assessing Their Skills
It can be very hard for a business person to assess the skills of an IT professional (it is even challenging for IT managers). There are many different levels of experience that IT engineers can have and they often sound similar on paper. That is why a formal system for testing skills is so beneficial.
2) Lack of Expertise for Specific Projects
When you find a good full-time IT professional, they are typically strong in a couple areas of IT. However, they are also weak in other areas. For example, they may be great at end-user support, but not very strong on designing and maintaining networks. So, there can be a lot of frustration and problems for the business around those areas where they are weak.
3) Challenges with Prioritizing
The whole reason you hire an IT professional is to take the IT challenges off of your plate. However, IT professionals are frequently pulled in many different directions. Plus, they are typically not at the decision making table. So, they often spend time on projects that may be interesting or challenging, but that do not move the business forward.
That is why it makes sense for companies to outsource the IT function, even when they are large enough to hire a full-time IT person. However, if you do really want to hire an in-house IT person, you should get help assessing the skills of the candidates. This can be done by someone with IT management experience or by using a temp-to-hire firm that specializes in IT. And once you hire, be sure to help them manage their priorities so the IT projects that get done are the ones that benefit the business most.
The Skyriver IT Guarantee
Skyriver IT is so confident that you will be delighted with our frustration-free IT Services, we guarantee your satisfaction. If after 3 months of working with Skyriver IT, you are not absolutely delighted with the service, we will help you find a new IT services company and pay for your first month of service.
If you would like to discuss how we can help make your IT frustration free, please contact us.
