Stop Blaming IT: 4 Steps to Shift from Scapegoat to Superhero
With more than 4,500 employees spread across the globe, the UK-based investment management company was challenged to support dispersed user groups that depended on highly performing technology to satisfy clients.
Here’s how Lakeside Software’s Digital Experience Cloud, powered by SysTrack, enabled the firm to expand its visibility, achieve a successful VDI rollout, adopt a proactive IT approach, and consistently deliver a quality end-user experience.
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With World Productivity Day fast approaching on June 20, we want to recognize the importance of creating an environment that supports workplace productivity.
If you Google “Top Productivity Killers,” you’ll get a series of expected answers: cell phones, internet browsing, conversations with colleagues, etc. But what’s notably missing are the digital disruptions that impact an employee’s ability to do their job.
In May, we conducted a weekly LinkedIn poll not necessarily to challenge Google’s findings but for us to better understand employee productivity in the
It seems nearly every day there is a technology failure in the news: Southwest Airlines cancels thousands of flights because its scheduling system is down. FTX exchange collapses losing billions of dollars in value. Twitter’s server crashes impacting millions of users.
It’s no surprise that technology issues can have wide-reaching implications. And often one team takes the brunt of the blame: the enterprise IT team. So how can IT teams combat this negative sentiment and ensure they can handle the complex issues thrown at them each day?
In today's digital age, IT teams play a critical role in enabling businesses to thrive and innovate. However, they also face more challenges than ever before — security and privacy threats, legacy system management, a growing talent gap, budget constraints, the list goes on and on. It’s no small feat to manage a large-scale and intricate network of hardware, software, systems, applications, and data. Add to that seemingly never-ending end-user issues, tickets, and complaints.
Without insight into what’s going on with all those devices, systems, and applications, it’s nearly impossible for IT teams to break free of the constant challenges and criticisms.
Does this sound familiar? You’re constantly battling fires, being pulled off strategic projects to deal with urgent issues. When you finally find time to focus on more strategic initiatives, they seem to be moving targets that are reactive at best, based on whatever is perceived as the issue de jour. Digital transformation projects, like enterprise software roll outs or cloud migrations, are continually missing deadlines and expanding in scope, making them high risk, costly, and time consuming.
These issues then lead to decreased productivity due to infrastructure changes and an increase in number of IT tickets submitted. You find yourself stuck in the cycle of pushing all other priorities aside to resolve major incidents, causing delays and lack of focus on change initiatives.
It doesn’t help that only 30% of change initiatives are successful, the Harvard Business Review, and only slightly more transformation projects succeed, according to McKinsey. Even more disheartening is that 20% of value loss from transformation projects comes after implementation. That means, even with a successful transformation, companies are still not seeing the value they originally sought.
With the combination of failing transformation projects and constant fire-fighting, it’s no wonder that 91% of employees are frustrated by workplace technology. That frustration leads to disapproval, dissatisfaction, and negative overall sentiment toward IT teams.
Before you raise your hands in defeat, though, here are four steps IT leaders can take to move their teams from being an organization’s scapegoat to being its superhero.
You can’t fix what you can’t see. For IT teams to avoid being blamed for all the tech issues, they first need data on what’s causing those issues across the enterprise IT estate.
Endpoint data is a treasure trove of insights that can fuel IT decision-making. By analyzing data collected from endpoints — such as desktops, laptops, and mobile devices — IT leaders can gain a deep understanding of user behavior, application usage, and system performance. This data enables problem identification, optimization of resources, and informed decision-making to address issues and enhance user experiences.
Once endpoint data comes pouring in, what’s next? To combat negative sentiment, IT leaders must use data to build a holistic view of their IT estate's health, usage, and performance.
With real-time visibility into infrastructure, networks, applications, and user experiences, IT leaders can pinpoint bottlenecks, promptly identify and respond to issues, minimize downtime, and optimize performance. The key is transforming visibility into actionable insights.
It’s one thing to see all the issues. It’s quite another to execute a plan built on the most pressing issues identified from that visibility.
Break free from the cycle of constantly putting out fires. Adopting a proactive IT mindset typically involves implementing preventive maintenance, regular system audits, and automated monitoring to identify and address potential risks before they escalate.
But now IT teams are doing more to “shift left” by using granular data and comprehensive visibility across the IT estate. Once teams have a complete view, they can identify trends and set up automatic alerts for issues before a scheduled audit or maintenance activity. No longer do IT teams need to wait for the tickets to stack up or a quarterly audit report to signal the need for a patch or fix. This means employees don’t have to deal with the issue, troubleshoot independently, and then submit a ticket — all leading to feelings of frustration with the IT team. Instead, IT acts as the hero in the background fixing the issue and saving employees the headache. By addressing potential risks before they impact operations, IT leaders can minimize disruptions, reduce the number of support tickets, boost productivity, and provide a seamless user experience.
Last, but not least, is sharing the positive impact the IT team has on the enterprise. Negative sentiment spreads quickly, so effective communication is paramount in shaping positive perceptions of the IT team. Regularly updating senior management and key stakeholders on IT's initiatives, accomplishments, and value delivered helps demonstrate the team's impact on business outcomes. However, it’s nearly impossible to carve out time for these updates while teams juggle digital transformation projects and incident response.
An easier way to show IT’s value can be letting the data speak for itself. Executive-level reports or dashboards with enterprise IT health scores, productivity cost impacts, and trends over time can provide a quick snapshot of IT’s value. Plus these views can help senior executives align IT initiatives with broader business goals, emphasizing how technology drives innovation, agility, and a competitive advantage.
By following these four steps, IT leaders can be enterprise superheroes: Embrace data-driven decision-making, foster proactive practices, enhance visibility, and communicate the value of IT initiatives through executive-level dashboards. With these strategies in place, IT will soon be seen as proactive problem solvers, driving successful digital transformation and delivering tangible value to the organization.
Want to read more about how you can level up your IT team? Check out this related article: “ITOps: It’s All About the End User.”
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