Embarrasing Moments

Oh, you thought you were alone in facing some embarrassing moments? I can reassure you; you are not. Most companies face a myriad of issues with their IT. The key is to manage them to support your business efficiently.

Nobody asks that all systems operate at 100% all the time except in some situations. So, what are some common IT Operational problems?

1. Downtime and system failures
2. Security breaches and cyber threats
3. Data loss through hardware failures or data corruption
4. Capacity planning and resource allocation issues
5. Trouble managing complexity and updates and several more.

This list is too long to tackle in a single post, so let's concentrate on downtime and system failures.

These are typically caused by

• an overly complex IT landscape
• insufficiently documented systems
• monitoring issues
• misalignment with business needs
• and architectures that do not emphasize reliability.

Additionally, there are human factors, such as

• IT processes that do not align with your corporate or departmental culture
• too much emphasis on feature development versus maintainability
• understaffed teams
• a culture of fear (wow, did I really just write that?)
  The topic of people management deserves its own conversation.

To return to the hard-skill elements, here's what you can do:

• Reduce your IT landscape complexity, one system at a time
• Implement redundant systems and network components.
• Conduct system performance and security audits regularly.
• Regularly update software and hardware systems.
• Monitor and maintain your network infrastructure.
• Train employees on best practices for data backup and system usage.
• Establish incident response protocols.
• Develop relationships with vendors and service providers.
• Have a documented IT strategy and IT operations plan in place, aligned with the business

And, to just slip in one people item anyway: eliminate any fear in your organization.