IT Support RANT

Lawbag_2

Well not that much of a rant, more of a moan, but rant sounds better.

Our company aren't big enough/rich enough to afford a fulltime employee to look after our IT system, so we have to either have companies come in ad-hoc or on a contract/cover basis.

Obviously somewhere down the line we have enough inside knowledge to keep our system moving nicely without too many headaches, but obviously we want the big guns in to solve major issues or install hardware/server upgrades.

Now I wont go into the wheres and whys or actually finding and getting a company to actually provide these services (thats a rant in itself), but why does every IT company/guy feel it absolutely VITAL to bad-mouth the current IT support company/guy to the point where its an odd mix of slanderous comment, infantile remarks, and statements concerning the amatuerish manner in which the system is currently being supported.

Now this isnt just a once off occurence. Ive always worked for smaller (10-50 employee) companies and Ive found this attitude from IT support people/companies pretty much across the board.

So can anyone agree with me, or at least put me straight!

Bad-Boy-Button

I've got the perfect answer to all your problems....

I'll get back in touch tomorrow

esuhl

Hmm... I work in IT Support (though not exactly "high up" in the company) and there are a LOT of people just bluffing their way through.

I think there are so many blaggers, that even a small team/company will have at least one. Whatever they were responsible for is probably bodged up, and all new IT teams will be eager to highlight this to show how good they are (and they forget about all the bodgers in their own team/company).

Oh, dear... I've just realised - I'm probably one of those bad-mouthing IT guys you're ranting about...

A_Nice_Englishman

Speaking as an IT Manager, with many years' experience here are a few things to look for when buying support.

Get a contract with a single company to provide all the equipment and support you need rather than doing it on an ad-hoc basis. Ask other local organisations similar to yours for recommendations.

A good firm will document the day-to-day procedures you need to follow, provide training in these and set up appropriate security so you have sufficient access to do these tasks but not enough to mess things up.

They will agree the scope of the support they will provide and have a Service Level Agreement (SLA). An SLA lays down how long it will take to fix problems , make changes, provide new equipment etc.

They will have a phone number for support where someone familiar with your setup will be available between agreed hours. They should be able to connect remotely to your systems to fix problems without incurring delays and expense in travelling to you.

nearlyrich

I work for a huge company our IT is outsourced to very well known company in the IT world, on a good day you get someone in France who can speak reasonable English.....on a bad day a very unintelligible conversation ensues with a Romanian who's grasp of English is as tenuous as my grasp of Swahili.

justpaper

esuhl wrote:

Hmm... I work in IT Support (though not exactly "high up" in the company) and there are a LOT of people just bluffing their way through.

I think there are so many blaggers, that even a small team/company will have at least one. Whatever they were responsible for is probably bodged up, and all new IT teams will be eager to highlight this to show how good they are (and they forget about all the bodgers in their own team/company).

Oh, dear... I've just realised - I'm probably one of those bad-mouthing IT guys you're ranting about...

that is so true, :T ...enuff blaggers out there without a nvq level 1 nevermind a comptia+

blaggers know theres a good chance of the system just having a spyware/virus problem (something minor),. thats why their in the IT blaggers crowd,. if its something they cannot handle,. its "yea, this is really missed up will have to take it back to base"