I recently attended a technology conference where I had a chance to meet a few CEO’s of some larger size companies and I found the same basic feeling towards their technology departments. I find this all over the place when I either visit a company or just talking to other technology people working in any company. It seems that most technology folks are looked at as the guy or girl who comes in to fix my computer when it is not working, or to better state it, they are here to fix the computers troubles of today. Don’t get me wrong this is part of what we do as a group is to keep things working on the desk. But I always try to stress that a good, really good technology person should be given time to process what the next steps will be to move the company always forward in the technology World. I always like to consider my self as a forward thinker. This as a technology person that does not only help the company where you are working, but will also allow you the technology person to maybe head off trouble down the road.
Does this mean that you as a technology person need to write a 5 year plan? If you can write a 5 year plan then you may already know what is coming down the road and you should be making a lot of money inventing something. You do need a plan as a direction tool, but we can only write our plans based on what we currently have to work with. Who knew 10 years ago that our e-mail on our desktop computers would now be feed out to our bosses to a device on their side? Who knew that the T-1 we were paying $1600.00 a month for would lend it self out to the broad band connections in the home, which now we can create VPN’s and allow our staff to access the network from home or even a coffee shop in another Country. A plan today is a road map to get you and your company to the next level of what you are doing and where the company may be going.
If you are a boss of any size company reading this, I just want you to sit back and think about how many people you have working in your tech departments. And then look at the people you currently have running the tech departments. Does that person have what it takes to move your company into the next level of technology. If not I also do outsourcing where together with your key people we could come up with a plan for your future technology. Don’t get me wrong every company needs that break fix person, but if you have a technology worker looking to move you company ahead and this is the only person working on computers, then it may be time to hire some added technology help and allow him or her the time to get some plans together to move the companies technology forward, if you don;t do this you will always be playing a catch up game. To put this in dollars and cents or TCO, just think about how much money you spend a year on insurance for your company and you will normally never see a return investment on your dollar there.