IT Untangled: What does the IT Department do?

Nearly all companies, both small and large, either have an IT department or outsource their IT services to a company that is equipped to handle technological issues. Generally speaking, IT can be seen as the department who will reboot the servers or come to your cubicle to install a software update. Since they perform many of these tasks on a routine basis, as well as respond to critical emergency alerts, the IT department is very critical to a company’s success and more important than most people generally realize.

Some of the primary responsibilities of an IT department will take care of include:

• Keeping Your Organization’s Tools Up To Date – The main purpose of an IT department is to keep everything operating as smoothly and efficiently as possible, giving everyone in the organization all of the tools and resources needed to complete their specific job. Because the technological equipment is modified very frequently, the IT department will typically recommend these upgrades to ensure the company remains competitive and profitable.
• Updates, Patches & Security Reviews – The primary servers and machines used in your organization will require a fair amount of maintenance to remain in optimal shape and to ensure reliability. Not only is the process of updating & patching all of the network’s devices very critical to fix bugs & errors in the machine, but it is also very time consuming and always best when left to the experts.
• Full Spectrum Monitoring – An IT department will typically monitor the company’s network environment to detect any potential threats or respond to incidents that may arise very quickly. If critical infrastructure onsite would happen to fail, such as a server or faulty hard drive, your IT department should be able to handle this emergency with zero or minimal downtime & without any damage to the organization’s health.
• Save On Infrastructure Costs – From a business perspective, the IT administrator is most capable of automating much of the daily tasks that are needed to keep everything going smoothly in your organization. The more processes that are automated, then the fewer IT staff required, the fewer critical incidents and downtime you’ll experience, and the more room you’ll have to prepare ahead of any potential issues.

IT is usually broken down into several categories like Networking, Systems, and Storage- but looking at the bigger picture, there are a countless amount of areas and specialties within. The primary thing to look for with any IT department is that it is well-equipped to handle the particular needs of your organization and not a simple one-type-fits-all solution. Many non-technical leaders may view their IT department as a large expense, but in reality, it should be a tremendous cost-saver when aligned well with your company’s needs and goals.

Contact ECS + My IT today to learn about our IT services and what they can do for your small, medium, or enterprise business!