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5 Ways to Reduce IT Support Costs
Many of our customers are very surprised
to learn of the things that their computer systems can do to reduce their
administration costs. Typically we are able to redesign the network so that
a system that used to take up the time of a FT IT person can now be
maintained from 8 to 16 hrs a week! Many of these features are already in
the software you own but IT personnel are not too keen on implementing
solutions that put them out of a job! Here are some of the methods that we
can use to immediately simplify your network and lower administration
costs:
o
Upgrade Systems: - Reduced
administration or lowered Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) has been a buzzword
and goal of almost all technology vendors (especially Microsoft!). Many
companies don't realize that they are missing out on important features and
functions that are in the newer releases of software from Microsoft,
Symantec, in-house database applications, etc. The entire IT industry is
moving towards lowering the Total Cost of Ownership and making things
easier to manage and control. Unfortunately, many companies are not able to
take advantage of such features because they have not upgraded their
servers and software. How big of a difference does it make? We recently
upgraded a company in South Tacoma that
was using legacy systems. It took their previous IT guy hours to setup a single
computer and it would often take days for him to get around to setting up a
new user. After upgrading their systems to newer servers with Windows
Server 2003 (which isn't even the latest and greatest) we were able to
centralize control and improve system performance on all of their
applications. They have now allocated 8 hrs a week of outsourced IT support
and the biggest reason they previously needed a FT IT person was because
they were running legacy software that demanded things be done the old ways.
o
Centralize Management: - Current IT
trends and implementations have found great efficiency in centralizing
management. Probably the most popular tool for centralized management (that
most companies already own) is Microsoft Active Directory. While most
companies utilize Active Directory to centralize user and group management,
Active Directory is able to do much more (see bullet point on Automation).
Other things that can be centralized for management include printers and
other network devices, and documentation. Centralized documentation is
invaluable for quickly being able to diagnose and fix issues. Active
Directory is just one example of a centralized administration system. We
also have experience setting up products such as Novell Directory Services,
N-Able, and other structures.
o
Standardization - Many support
costs can be lowered by simplifying the network. By far, the easiest way to
do this is to standardize systems and procedures. For example,
troubleshooting computer hardware is far easier when all the computer are
the same and testing parts are readily available and results can be
compared on similar systems. Many companies have already discovered that
they can lower their costs substantially by purchasing computer systems
from vendors such as Dell or HP that include hardware warranties on their
systems. Hanging on to old systems can actually drastically increase your
support costs to the point where many do not realize they have purchased
the system many times over. The same standardization can apply to software
and procedures as well.
o
Automation - Some other
things that we are able to program into our centralized management include:
automatic setup of user profiles, automatic setup of printers and network
drives, automatic deployment of software applications based on user
assignments, automatic deployment of Windows updates, enforcement of
computer security policies, automatic backup of files to the file servers,
automatically deploy support tools to the user's desktop, automatically
deploy virus updates to antivirus software, automatically initiate virus
scans or checks when needed, automatically automate other administration
tasks that used to be performed manually
o
Virtual Support - Companies that
have previously employed the one-person IT model have not yet discovered
the efficiency of a helpdesk. With today's systems, it is easy and
cost-efficient to setup virtual support to all computers as a first line of
support. This speeds up technician response as it requires no travel time,
technicians can often multitask and work on other issues while waiting for
installations/other operations to complete, and technicians also have
immediate access to the back-end servers to reset passwords, change user
settings, and otherwise make system fixes in realtime. Locke Systems
utilizes a live helpdesk that supports users over the phone and via remote
control software to see if issues can be resolved remotely first.
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