Got an IT expert in your midst? Perhaps a resident, unofficial techie who always seems to be able to save colleagues from certain IT-death and mishap. When it comes to tech skills and knowledge, a little can go a long way in the office – but that might just be in reputation.
“Ask him over there. He found my lost files. He’s some sort of IT genius.”
“Ask Holly on the second floor, she’ll know what to do. She builds her own computers – for fun!”
Sound familiar?
We all know the relief when a lost file is found, and the joy of being shown a really useful shortcut in Excel or saving files in a more effective way. And colleagues who can show others in their team these handy things to get by are useful to have around. But ‘getting by’ is not a future-proof plan.
Ask questions about why your team need help
It may sound sceptical, but shortcuts and work arounds often happen because systems are broken in the first place.
Why are files going missing? Employees should know how to save files, and there should be a robust system of file and data saving and sharing to support them in their work.
And, wouldn’t a spot of Excel training for the whole team be handy if individuals need adhoc shortcuts to help them in their everyday work?
Maybe the things your team need help with point to bigger problems than a quick helping-hand can solve. In fact, the helping-hand, your resident techie might be just delaying the inevitable facing up to what is really the problem with your IT.
Protocol and process
How do you know that the help your resident IT techie is giving is inline with the needs of your organisation and operation? They may be directly contravening the principles and safeguards of your systems without even realising it.
They could be downloading unauthorised software or even breeching permissions depending on how they are helping their colleagues.
Unofficial IT techies rarely know everything
Even official IT techies don’t know everything!
There may be a fair bit of pressure on the person your team go to for help. They may enjoy their reputation and genuinely like helping people out. The danger is that when they are asked about something they know little about, they may be tempted to carry out something that is outside their comfort zone, which is not fair on them or you.
Unfair responsibility
It’s not fair to put the support for your team on an employee without proper training and support, no matter how much they seem to know about IT. What if the system crashed irreparably? Or you had a security breach? If your employee felt responsible this would hardly be fair just because you hadn’t employed someone with the skills to do fulfil the role properly.
To sum up, here’s why it’s not a great idea to rely on your resident, unofficial techie:
- Work arounds may mask the real problem
- They may accidently compromise your business, and your security
- Pressure to help may mean bad fixes are carried out
- Unofficial roles, without pay or training mean unfair responsibility
IT training, in whatever aspect of IT you need, benefits all your employees. Appropriate training lifts the pressure from the person everyone usually goes to for help, and increases the knowledge and understanding within your organisation, which helps to future-proof your business.
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