What is an IT Support Plan?
An IT Support Plan is performed when a company plans to bring IT in-house. As your company reaches its goals, you will likely want to build your own internal IT department. An IT Support Plan will help you define the IT levels you need to hire, who they report to, how they track, measure, and report their performance, the resources you need to support them, and when to hire more IT people.
You should start with a strategic CIO to execute your technology initiatives. Or you might want a dedicated onsite engineer to be at the beck and call of your end users. Whatever you decide to do, you should take it in small steps to avoid taking on a complete IT department at once: primarily because it is costly to invest in all skill levels and technology tools simultaneously.
What Happens When a Company Does Not Have an IT Support Plan?
Historically, many small- to medium-sized businesses hire one internal IT person and give them the autonomy to purchase the tools they need for the IT department. Many issues with this approach include:
- Cheap Technology Tools – Cheap technology tools are cheap for a reason. They result in excess time to manage and program ticketing systems, monitoring software, centralized antivirus software, and asset tracking software.
- Undefined Processes & Procedures – Defining policies and procedures for an internal IT department is a huge investment of time. It is complex work that requires substantial knowledge from someone who has already been through it.
- Lack of Expertise – Not one person knows everything there is to know in the world of IT. It takes a team and additional resources to provide full support.
- Turnover – IT people are in high demand, and few will settle for a company that does not provide a career path or the opportunities to be challenged with new technology. Like most people, they want to maximize their experience and education to advance their careers.
For the reasons above, it is best to ease into building your IT department by partnering with an MSP who supports your goals, can train your employees, and can fill in the gaps.
Doing The IT Support Plan On Your Own
You can execute an IT Support Plan on your own! It doesn’t need to be anything fancy; it just needs clear and complete. A good IT support plan should support the vision and strategy of the business, be simple, specific to your company and culture, high level, and cover no more than five years. This method would allow you to adjust the plan for unexpected changes.
There are many IT plan templates available, and one that is just right for you.
Hiring a Company To Do Your IT Support Plan
You can also hire a consulting company to do the strategic IT support plan if you don’t have enough knowledge or expertise to do it yourself. They will likely map out a very comprehensive plan that includes details similar to those found in Nigel Fenwick’s, a successful Forester Analyst, outline below.
Nigel has an impressive published paper in Forester Research entitled “Business Technology Strategy Template”, which is a promising IT Support Plan outline. In short, it includes:
- Executive Summary – business vision, mission, and values, business goals, assumptions
- A Core Structure – tailored to your business based on the set of common elements of business technology strategies:
- Major market drivers and economic/market trends with expected business impacts on people and demographic trends with expected business impact
- Business and Market Trends – with expected business impact, geopolitical trends with expected business impact, emerging technology trends with expected business impact, PEST analysis (political, economic, social, and technological)
- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) Analysis – organizational and external environment and competition
- Business Capabilities (high-level capability map) – Identify strategic capabilities, business strategy, changes in business capabilities, and assumptions.
- Investments in People, Process, and Technology – Create a business technology roadmap with scenario plans and impact strategies for different scenarios.
The most important thing is to gain approval from all the executive management to use this as a guideline for the future. Again, this will speed up the time for approval at each step.
Type of Engineer and Cost
After completing your IT support plan, you will know which support level(s) you want to bring in-house. For example, do you want someone more strategic who can learn your company’s inner workings? Or do you want someone who can map a strategic direction and provide a vision to meet your goals?
Timing and transition
Engineers need someone to bounce ideas, escalate issues, handle the overload, help with projects, or serve as a backup to avoid wasting time. They also need access to robust technology tools such as ticketing systems, monitoring tools, asset tracking, etc. However, many small internal IT departments fear an outside team will compete with them for authority, overlap their responsibilities, finger-point, or create more issues than they resolve.
INSI is Here to Help During Your Transition!
Innovative Network Systems, Inc. (INSI) Customized IT programs were specifically designed to fill in the IT gaps for small IT departments. We set up a complete separation of responsibilities to ensure the engineers are getting the support they need and when they need it.
At INSI, we support your goals to bring your IT in-house. For example, we have several services designed explicitly for Internal IT Departments. Services range from engineer access to our robust tools (ticketing system, monitoring tools, asset tracking, etc.) up to engineering resources (helpdesk, escalation, CIO level planning, etc.).
Wherever you are in your IT Plan, we have the tools and resources to help move you toward your goals. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you plan to slowly transition to your own internal IT department or if your current team needs help. We are here to help.
About INSI: The Best MSP in Atlanta!
Innovative Network Systems, Inc. has a unique approach to integrating IT support and cybersecurity. Our month-to-month programs range from basic support to proactive support, managed support, and customized support. Each program is tailored to the client’s needs and internal IT strengths.
For more information about cybersecurity dangers and the preventative measures for your company, connect with the top MSP in Atlanta; Contact INSI: 770-387-2424, option 2 or click the link below. In addition, we offer 16 different cybersecurity programs to protect you and your data.
About the Author
Deborah Frazier is the author of IT Outsourcing Secrets – A Small Business Guide to Compare IT Support Companies. With nearly 20 years of experience consulting small and medium-sized businesses on their IT support needs, she brings a wealth of knowledge to INSI as Head of Marketing and Sales. If you like this article and want to get notified when a new article is posted, click here.
