Nearly every IT department has room for improvement. For example, most have a lot of room to improve when it comes to business continuity. However, some problems have a greater impact on recoverability, IT security, and efficiency than others. And other issues are so rare that it is rarely worth discussing. Here are the most common IT faults and how to avoid them. We’ll also explain why these issues are so common and why you want to avoid them.
Not Communicating Clearly
IT is complicated, and this is why it is essential that you communicate with your audience in understandable terms. To foster trust, you need to communicate regularly and honestly with others. This means not sugar coating everything and not staying silent in the hope that the problem goes away. The solution is to get in the habit of giving honest progress reports on your project or department. Report problems and potential problems early on and propose solutions when you can. This will result in the problems being worked almost immediately, getting things back on track as soon as possible.
Refusal to Delegate Tasks
This is one of the biggest IT management mistakes you can make, though most of those making it fail to realize their mistake. A refusal to delegate work that can be done by others leaves the manager or technical expert overloaded. They’re now stressed and at risk of burning out. They do this because they don’t trust others to do it right, and sometimes they’re reluctant to invest the effort to delegate, leaving tasks on the back burner instead. In other cases, IT staffers are afraid to ask for support because they don’t want to admit they lack the skills to get it done.
The solution is to ask for help when you need it, find those who can help you, and cultivate skills in others, so you don’t have to do it all yourself. Everyone’s productivity goes up when each focuses on their core competency. And more work gets done in a timely manner.
You can foster task delegation to the right people using SysAid ITSM. It consolidates asset management, help desk ticketing, work assignments and reporting in a single software solution. It allows your help desk to create tickets and assign issues based on the skill sets required to resolve the issue. SysAID can create work assignments to simplify change management projects. It also supports end-user self-service portals, allowing customers and end-users to do as much as possible themselves. This reduces the IT department’s workload.
Failing to Validate Processes
One variation of this mistake is failing to validate processes. The importance of this is discovered when changes are made without sufficient testing and review. This can result in unnecessary operational outages. The solution is to have a clearly defined process for identifying use cases, creating test plans and doing comprehensive testing. In some cases, the testing was done but it is all positive testing, neglecting exception-based testing.
Another example of the mistake is failing to validate internal processes. Whether it is verifying backups actually work or data restorations go as planned, ensure that your fail-safe procedures work properly before your business depends on it. When you do a project, hold a post-project review. Verify that people are following the new processes correctly and that the end results are what you expected. You may find that additional changes are necessary, or you might learn that you need to better define your requirements next time.
Conclusion
Project delays may be embarrassing, and processing inefficiencies are wasteful. However, the mistakes we’ve outlined put the organization at risk or hurt the business over the long-run. This is why they need to be resolved as soon as they’re recognized.
