Should You Bring Your IT Support In-House?

Is it time to bring your IT support in-house? There are several scenarios where this makes sense. Is your company growing in size? It might make financial sense to bring your IT support in-house. Or you need someone strategic to help you be more competitive in your industry. Or it could be something as simple as the new CEO wanting a live body down the hall and readily available if and when they need them. Whatever the reason, it is crucial to start it off right.

Establish Your IT Plan 

If you plan to bring your IT support in-house, your first step will be to establish an IT plan. It is not enough to go out and hire in hopes the person can do the job. A good IT plan will serve as a guideline for the strategic direction of your IT initiatives in the future. It will also help you receive faster approval during each IT planning phase since you have already gained acceptance from the executive team at the beginning of the process.

Fortunately, you can do this on your own! It doesn’t need to be anything fancy; it just needs to be clear and complete. A good IT plan should support the vision of the business and the IT Strategy. Moreover, it will provide direction on the following:

• when to hire at each phase,
• what level to hire at,
• external resources,
• internal technology tools.

Last, it should be simple, specific to your company and culture, cover no more than five years, and be a high level.

Hire The Right People

Now that you have determined your IT plan, you need to know what engineering resources you need. You should also know the phases in which to hire them and the tools they need to be successful. Only then, is it time to consider who to hire. Unfortunately, it is difficult for a non-technical person to know is a good match. That is why I recommend doing a background check, drug screening, personality test, and verifying their technical aptitude.

Background Checks & Drug Screening

The next thing you need to do before bringing your IT support in-house is to set up a background and drug screening program. You may not realize this, but as long as your internal IT people have administrative rights, they also have the keys to the kingdom. Subsequently, they can view your emails, listen to your phone calls, and see your financials, HR, and intellectual property. This is the same with anyone who has administrative access, an employee or managed service provider. Either way, you must be very diligent in your screening process.

Regulatory Standards and Background Checks

Background checks are essential, especially if you are responsible to uphold regulatory compliance standards. In these cases, the law expects you to vet anyone who has administrative access. Vetting ensures sensitive information such as medical information, social security, credit card information, and other identifying factors are not compromised by your IT staff. Interestingly, many criminals earn IT degrees in prison. Wouldnt you want to know if they committed a crime and what crime they committed? 

Regardless of whether you are mandated to do a background check or drug screening, is wise After all, there are many stories of IT employees who had left a back door open to the server when they left the company. Or a disgruntled employee who sabotaged the business. It’s unfortunate, but it does happen.

Personality Test

Speaking of disgruntled employees, desperate people do desperate things and it’s not uncommon for an employee to become territorial when their job is threatened. Some more than others. That’s why it is very important to do a personality test before hiring your next IT person.

When performing a personality test, remember that the ideal IT person is a great communicator, is excellent at following processes, and has excellent problem-solving skills. A good personality test will be able to screen for the first two. It will help identify weaknesses in their work ethic.

How to Verify Their Technical Aptitude

Once you have identified the level you need to hire in your IT Plan, you will need to test their technical strengths. Fortunately, several companies offer online tests. These tests assess their trouble-shooting abilities and technical aptitude for the position they are applying for. 

On another note, you could also use an IT recruiter. If you use a recruiter, make sure they perform background checks, drug screening, personality, and aptitude test. Many times you will find their expertise is in one area, not across the board.

Give IT People Tools and Resources to Ensure Success

When it is time to bring your IT support in-house, please set them up for success. A successful IT department will have the right tools and resources to meet your staff’s needs. This includes:

1. Technical IT Resources – Provide your IT team to bounce off ideas, escalate issues, and serve as a backup.
2. Ticketing Software –  Ticketing software helps your IT department track tickets through to completion and monitor the IT staff’s progress and end-user satisfaction.
3. Robust Monitoring Tools – Every IT department needs network and desktop monitoring tools if you hope to get a solid return on your technology investment.
4. Remote Assist Software Tools – This IT management tool will allow your IT team remote into any desktop computer and fix the issue for the end user.

IT networking tools require a substantial upfront investment of time and resources to program them correctly. It can often take several months or years to complete the processes and programming. On the other hand, you can partner with a Managed Service Provider, like INSI, which has invested in the most robust monitoring, maintainance, asset tracking and remote assistant tools. This will not only give your team the autonomy they need, but also give them a backup if something happens.

Conclusion

You set up your entire company for success when you equip your IT support staff with necessary resources and tools. Unfortunately, many companies still view IT as a necessary evil rather than a competitive advantage. In many of those cases, the IT team struggles to be efficent and responsive.