5 Signs of Unproductive IT


Ever wonder if your IT team is costing you not only time and money but productivity as well? Below are 5 signs IT is preventing productivity and negatively impacting your business. If any of these apply to your company, you’re likely being held back by an inexperienced IT team.

1. Your company still has an on-premise email server.

Running an on-premise email infrastructure is incredibly complex and expensive compared to using Google or Microsoft’s email and collaboration platforms. If you have an on-premise mail server, chances are you’re also paying for an email archiving application, an anti-spam and email protection application and perhaps even a data loss prevention tool. Hosted email includes all of this functionality for a fraction of the price. Not only are those IT basics included in a hosted platform, but you get productivity improving tools like surveys and forms, appointment software, file storage and even mileage tracking applications at no additional cost. Finally, switching to the cloud shifts the maintenance responsibility away from IT so they can focus on improving employee experience.

2. You often hear “the cloud is not secure.”

This normally happens when IT personnel have “grown-up” in the organization and aren’t sure how to develop a solid road map to modernize the company. More than 94% of businesses in the US use a cloud-based system in one way or another. 84% of them use a multi-cloud strategy averaging 5 systems or more. Also, you can bet that the largest cloud providers (think Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc.) spend exponentially more on IT security than your company does.

3. “No” is the first answer IT gives in almost every scenario.

IT professionals possess a unique set of skills, one of them – due to the ever-evolving nature of technology, needs to be creativity. To keep a business running, internal IT resources will face challenges and need to provide solutions that help a business rival its competitors in every scenario. Even if something can’t be done, there is almost always another way – as long as there’s a will.

4. IT comes up with reasons something can’t be done rather than solutions to achieve the goal.

Good IT professionals always have a plan to face any technical issues within the organization. They are the subject matter experts who possess the most knowledge about the company’s infrastructure. So, they are the ones who should be providing the answers a business needs to improve employee experience and productivity.

5. IT blames the rest of the organization for not “spending enough money on IT” or “not understanding IT.” 

If you’re hearing either of the phrases above, there is a broader communication issue at play. A clearly outlined roadmap will often include cost saving opportunities that offset the budget for implementing a 1 to 2-year IT strategy. If IT leadership cannot articulate the overall IT strategy, roadmap and budget for that roadmap, the executive team will not be confident investing more money in IT. Similarly, if IT cannot use jargon-free language when discussing how proposed IT initiatives will help achieve a business strategy, key stakeholders won’t understand IT. These are the most common reasons IT teams are not given sufficient resources to execute a strategy.