THE ROAD TO SMB IT NIRVANA

Express Computer

Project management is something of a Black Art. Change Management is a topic that deserves far more attention that it usually gets. The IT manager in the average SMB lacks the kind of extensive resources that a CIO/CTO in a large company can tap. So what is the SMB IT manager to do? There are some basic principles that, when applied diligently, can spell the difference between the success and failure of IT at an SMB.

- Communicate, communicate, and communicate: Do not leave your users hanging dry on the line. You have to communicate any major change before it you make it. Maintain a database of cell phone numbers of all HODs and SMS details of any proposed change to them before you make any substantial change to an existing system, particularly if the system in question is an essential one (think messaging, file & print, ERP etc.).

- Pick an appropriate solution: An enterprise-class solution may or may not work for a medium business. It definitely will be no good for a small business. There are SMB-specific solutions out there. Give them preference over enterprise solutions that have been jury-rigged to fit your needs. Exchange and Notes are wonderful solutions for large companies with thousands of users or even for IT-savvy organizations with a smaller user base. However, for a small company or even a medium business that does not have an IT team with sufficient skill sets they can mean a messaging system that is slow, unwieldy, underpowered and doesn’t scale when user’s needs grow. This is no reflection on the enterprise software. It is, however, exactly what happens when an SMB is unable to invest sufficiently in hardware and bandwidth to provide a decent messaging experience to end-users. Overall, an SMB is better off opting for a hosted e-mail solution from Google or Rediff rather than going in for a do-it-yourself approach.

- Listen to your users: When things go wrong it is all too easy to shoot the messenger. Instead, listen to your users and work with them to find solutions when things go wrong even if you feel that the problems are silly. From the user’s perspective, they are probably game changing.

- Big Bang/Steady State: The choice of how you go about upgrading and introducing new systems lies between the ‘rip off the plaster in one quick jerk as it’ll hurt less’ also known as the Big Bang and the ‘let’s do things incrementally’ or Steady State model. Each has its plusses and minuses. Take a call based on the situation. If you must put in a new SFA application as sales are languishing thanks to lack of timely information or lack of sharing of information between sales staff, then you need a Big Bang. If you have users complaining about slow response time and overflowing mailboxes on your e-mail system an incremental approach where you pinpoint the heavy users and determine if their needs are real in conjunction with business heads and then roll out upgrades for those users first might work better in such a case.

There is no magic wand to wave and chase the IT blues away but the above principles can help foster a healthy working relationship between the IT team and the rest of the organization.