Give your IT Support company lead time
Monthly IT Support Update – February 2018
Hi all,
We’re now well and truly back to the post-holiday levels of activity. How do I know this? Traffic is terrible, kids are all over public transport again, and the phones are ringing off the hook! It’s not all bad though, those lucky uni students are still on break for a few weeks!
All this talk of timing segues nicely into my topic for this month – service provisioning lead times. This sounds super boring and it sure is, but it’s also really important if you’re planning any time-sensitive changes which may involve IT support work.
An important example of this is an office move. When planning to relocate your place of business, IT might be the last thing on your mind, and that’s fine, all you need to do is tell us as soon as possible – ideally in the location scoping process. There are a couple of reasons for this:
- Knowing the existing IT infrastructure is OK at a new premises can save thousands of dollars in electrical work
- Commissioning or relocating a business internet connection can take 4-6 weeks – think about how you’re going to be able to work without, or with limited internet access
Other service provisioning lead times that spring to mind are:
- Hardware provisioning – we usually need a day to order, two-three days for delivery and then another day for configuration for a standard workstation or laptop. If it’s something more exotic (network firewalls, switches, servers etc.) then that time may increase substantially.
- User account creation – Very frequently we receive notification late on Friday afternoon for a new starter on a Monday morning, less frequently but not rarely, we receive notifications on the day or even after the person has started. While we do everything we can to process these as quickly as possible, for the best experience for your new staff, we like to have a few days to a week’s notice – this allows us to set everything up well ahead of time and make sure everything is 100% correct!
The takeaway from this is to let us know as early as possible when time-sensitive work is required.
About the author:
Eden Freeman is Intuitive IT’s Director of IT and outsourced IT manager to our clients. Eden’s no-nonsense and practical approach to IT Management ensures his clients receive the best possible solutions for their IT needs. Eden works across our many and varied clients, ensuring best practice is implemented from a technology perspective and can communicate risks and ideas to the business at the same time. A unique and highly regarded set of skills that make him invaluable to the IIT team. Contact Eden here
About the author
Eden has over a decade of experience in the IT industry. Working with numerous organisations from a diverse range of industries; education, finance and renewable energy to name a few.
Prior to joining Intuitive IT Eden worked at a top tier Managed Services provider which gave him valuable experience in a wide array of enterprise level technologies and customer environments.