November 22, 2024
Two weeks is not enough time to advertise, interview, vet, hire, and train an internal IT employee. But more often than not, that’s all the time you get. And sometimes you don’t even get that much.
If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing you’ve already gotten some bad news. Sorry to say, but I have more bad news for you. There’s an IT talent shortage, and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. In fact, the shortage is expected to affect 90% of organizations by 2026. So in this blog, I’ll explore what you need to do immediately, what you need to do this week or next, and what you might want to consider in the future.
What You Need Before They Leave
Before your IT person leaves, collect all of their administrative passwords.
If they give you proper notice, if they were your only IT person, or if they led your team, you’ll also need them to provide the following:
- Instructions about how to change any passwords, update software, maintain hardware, backup and restore your data, and monitor alerts
- Warranty and license information for your current hardware and software
- An inventory of your IT infrastructure
- A diagram of your network
- Any encryption keys
- Their records of problems and resolutions
- Information about projects they were working on
- Detailed documentation that outlines the IT processes at your organization
What You Need To Do ASAP When They’re Gone
Your IT person has access to your most sensitive systems and data. Even if they are leaving on good terms, that access needs to end as soon as they’re gone.
- Collect all of their administrative passwords
- Change the passwords on all critical systems and accounts
- Revoke their access to networks, databases, and any cloud services
- Update any shared accounts
Do this immediately. Then let’s talk about the rest.
Next Steps
If you have other IT folks on staff, work with them to make sure that your essential IT tasks will still be covered. They can also help you understand what skill gaps will need to be filled moving forward.
You also might want to have them use our cybersecurity checklist to get a quick sense of whether or not you’re in line with cybersecurity best practices and what may or may not need to change moving forward.
How To Replace IT Staff Quickly
If you have skill gaps or your remaining team (or lack thereof) won’t be sufficient to keep your organization running smoothly in the interim, ask a trusted IT provider about their consulting services.
Keep in mind that if you’re hoping to keep your IT entirely in-house, you may have a longer search period than you did last time. So before you start your talent search, it might be time to rethink your strategy, starting with the BIG question…
What Would You Like Your IT Support To Look Like Moving Forward?
An ideal IT scenario looks something like this:
Your business rarely (if ever) experiences any disruptions. Your team has the time and the resources to apply any security patches and updates promptly. They also have the time and the resources to help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals. So if you, for example, wanted to boost productivity or increase employee satisfaction, you know you could ask your IT team for some options, and they’d come back with some great ones.
If that’s not what you have, I have some follow-up questions for you:
- Were you too dependent on one person?
- Even if you find a great new IT person quickly, what happens when you experience an emergency after hours or they’re on vacation?
- Is your pay and benefits package competitive enough to retain someone with the skills you need in this current market?
- How often do you want to be hiring and onboarding new IT staff?
- Can you actually fill the skill gaps you have with just one person?
Should You Hire or Go With Outsourced IT?
There are a few big misconceptions a lot of businesses have about managed IT. So let me address a few of them.
First, you don’t have to get rid of all of your in-house staff. We often partner with organizations that have their own IT director. We just help them get more done, and often, help them bridge the language gap between IT and management. Second, outsourced IT doesn’t mean slower solutions. Most problems can be resolved remotely, so if anything, tickets are typically resolved faster. And third, while a good provider will cost some money, they will also have a number of ways that this service helps pay for itself, including getting you better deals on software subscriptions and optimizing your tools.
Outsourcing your IT isn’t the best solution for every organization, but if the answers to the questions I listed earlier were yup, jeez, nope, never, and dang, it’s time to find a good provider. You can often get a sneak preview of what a provider would recommend for you — and how they tend to operate — by getting a one-time technology assessment. But before you take any next steps, you probably have a few more big questions that need answering. We’ve got you covered. Get answers to FAQs about managed IT through the link below!
