Growing IT – Treat it like a garden.

Consider the amount of effort the people in your street put into their gardens. There will be some hard work but in general they are well maintained, with regularly cut grass, beautiful borders and mean that family visit regularly because of the surroundings and care they see you give.

To do this you have to give it all some thought and regular planning.

In the winter you plan what to plant so that in the summer you get the rewards.

  • Some of the planning is strategic. You plant long lasting herbs or perennials.
  • Some of the planning is tactical. You plant pretty flowers that give great effect but only last for the one season or project.

In the spring you do a little work planting and trimming.

In the summer you sit back and enjoy. There is still a little maintenance because all the play wears out the grass in places however next year you change the seed and the grass is more durable.

How many businesses reflect on their IT in the same way? Yet if you don’t, IT is like a lawn. It is soon overgrown and the system is lost!

To avoid massively growing costs, and infrequent emergency spend you do need to get an insight into your IT systems.

Plan when to replace the server but get one fit for purpose, just like the shrubs you choose.

Review PCs and set up a rolling replacement. Employees will be happier when their PCs are reliable.

Make sure that the IT strategy reflects your business plan and is ready to support everything you want to do, if not prune it and make sure next year you plant the right seeds.

If you don’t know where to start, Andisa offer an INSIGHT process that looks at all things IT in your business. It helps get an understanding of what processes and equipment exist, how to get the most from them and how to plan so that IT is a real asset that supports your employees and business plan.

There is more information on our web site IT Insight ; make sure your IT works for you.