How can I minimise the time we spend on IT issues?

Businesses often feel inundated by IT issues. As soon as one issue gets fixed, another arises. And then another. With multiple IT issues playing out at any one time (and more just around the corner), businesses have to prioritise which to fix first. But, how do you work out which problems to prioritise?
The answers lies in first understanding the overriding problem.
Take for example, my gym. We don’t usually deal with such companies, but I recently sold my gym two new computers as a favour. They got a great deal, but decided that our service fees were too high for their small company. Instead, they chose to do the IT work themselves, and (no surprises here) three months later they still haven’t managed to get the gym management software running. Clearly, multiple issues have arisen as a result of failing to get this business-critical software running quickly.
Getting this software up and running would only have been a day’s work for an IT expert, but due to the gym’s aversion to cost, the entire investment made in productivity systems has been wasted for the last three months. So, the gym has spent thousands of dollars on hardware and software, with no benefit to the business.
This is a business that would quickly declare that they are currently inundated by IT issues, and don’t know what to fix first. But this multitude of micro IT issues is actually symptomatic of a much bigger IT problem. This real issue here is that they chose not to engage outsourced support. With outsourced support, these issues would cease to exist.
So – ask yourself – do you actually have lots of IT issues OR are you just failing to bring in the right experts?
Unfortunately, where there are computers there are always going to be issues, and it is a challenge to prioritise these issues (and the solutions you need to buy, in order to fix them).
An IT Audit conducted by an outsourced provider can produce an overarching (and objective) view of a business’ IT environment. This bird’s-eye view is critical to prioritising your IT issues effectively. A good IT Audit will look at business system requirements, infrastructure shortcomings, come up with a list of problems, an estimate of time and costs, and highlight the skills required moving forward.
With the results of such an audit in hand, you can then go back to your business requirements and do a cost justification to decide the order in which you’ll tackle your IT problems. For example, if your issue is really maintenance, then get maintenance done (rather than invest lots of money in a brand new application that isn’t really required).
If your outsourced IT support is willing (and capable) of being a strategic advisor, they can offer a valuable and experienced perspective throughout this process.
So, instead of hopelessly attempting to keep on top of your list of IT issues by prioritising the micro problems, first identify the macro problem. Why isn’t IT working for you currently? Do you need more internal IT resources? Or is it time to invest in managed IT support?
Whatever it is, get your macro IT problem sorted. Until you do, IT will continue to be an impediment to growing your business – rather than facilitating that growth.