Is IT crap at all SME's or just mine?
Discussion
Just a general question really. I've worked for 4 small/medium sized companies in my career to date (all within the ballpark of turnover £2m to £8m) and they've all been idiosynchratic in different ways, however one recurring thread I've noticed is utterly dreadful IT at all of them.
It's almost too embarassing to talk about but working for what is supposed to be a forward-thinking, dynamic firm, yet we work on 10yr old PCs (running on 2004 pentium 4 processors with 1GB RAM!!!)on 10yr old servers we seem to lurch from one IT crash to the next, just with a make-do-and-mend attitude, never really addressing the root cause. I just wonder if my place is unusually crap or not? I did read an article on BBC some time ago suggesting that investment in IT in the UK lags miles behind similar sized companies in other developed countries.
anyone else in the same boat?
It's almost too embarassing to talk about but working for what is supposed to be a forward-thinking, dynamic firm, yet we work on 10yr old PCs (running on 2004 pentium 4 processors with 1GB RAM!!!)on 10yr old servers we seem to lurch from one IT crash to the next, just with a make-do-and-mend attitude, never really addressing the root cause. I just wonder if my place is unusually crap or not? I did read an article on BBC some time ago suggesting that investment in IT in the UK lags miles behind similar sized companies in other developed countries.
anyone else in the same boat?
Not just you. The bank I work in is still running Windows XP so we're limited on RAM so instead of having one PC I have to have two to do my job !
Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
It's that other things take priority. I work in Security, and that has it's own FUD but SMBs do spend money there, both on new and replacements
I think desktop level is probably more a case of as long as it's doing it's job, it's fine. A bit like solar panels, you know it's probably a good thing, but the ROI is so far away you spend the money on new windows instead.
I think desktop level is probably more a case of as long as it's doing it's job, it's fine. A bit like solar panels, you know it's probably a good thing, but the ROI is so far away you spend the money on new windows instead.
TeaNoSugar said:
Just a general question really. I've worked for 4 small/medium sized companies in my career to date (all within the ballpark of turnover £2m to £8m) and they've all been idiosynchratic in different ways, however one recurring thread I've noticed is utterly dreadful IT at all of them.
It's almost too embarassing to talk about but working for what is supposed to be a forward-thinking, dynamic firm, yet we work on 10yr old PCs (running on 2004 pentium 4 processors with 1GB RAM!!!)on 10yr old servers we seem to lurch from one IT crash to the next, just with a make-do-and-mend attitude, never really addressing the root cause. I just wonder if my place is unusually crap or not? I did read an article on BBC some time ago suggesting that investment in IT in the UK lags miles behind similar sized companies in other developed countries.
anyone else in the same boat?
The IT Manager likes to go home at 5 and have an easy life. He maybe near to retirement.It's almost too embarassing to talk about but working for what is supposed to be a forward-thinking, dynamic firm, yet we work on 10yr old PCs (running on 2004 pentium 4 processors with 1GB RAM!!!)on 10yr old servers we seem to lurch from one IT crash to the next, just with a make-do-and-mend attitude, never really addressing the root cause. I just wonder if my place is unusually crap or not? I did read an article on BBC some time ago suggesting that investment in IT in the UK lags miles behind similar sized companies in other developed countries.
anyone else in the same boat?
The IT director likes to go home at 5 and have an easy life. He maybe near to retirement.
The CEO director likes to go home at 5 and have an easy life. He maybe near to retirement.
If a full scale upgrade happens, there is potential for a lot of s
t to hit a lot of fans. This means it will not happen, or when it happens it will be outsourced and take years.
HTH
tobster said:
Not just you. The bank I work in is still running Windows XP so we're limited on RAM so instead of having one PC I have to have two to do my job !
Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
Sounds like my bank...Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
I work for a company that has a turnover of £10bn.
We are working with worn out equipment, making do and mending on a daily basis.
My division is losing money every week and redundancies have been announced.the race to the bottom by supermarkets is not helping us. We produce 900 to 1000 pallets of product every week, yet cannot make any money at it.our products are for sale in pretty much every supermarket.
Most employees are on minimum wage.there is nowhere left to go. Unless people are prepared to pay more for what we make I cannot see us continuing for much longer
We are working with worn out equipment, making do and mending on a daily basis.
My division is losing money every week and redundancies have been announced.the race to the bottom by supermarkets is not helping us. We produce 900 to 1000 pallets of product every week, yet cannot make any money at it.our products are for sale in pretty much every supermarket.
Most employees are on minimum wage.there is nowhere left to go. Unless people are prepared to pay more for what we make I cannot see us continuing for much longer
When I started at Alstom in 2009 they gave us laptops.
core duo
256 mb ram
integrated intel GMA graphics
I kid you not
I couldn't even do the excel macros I was trying to write on it. Not sure what they were thinking. One guy who started a little later got a brand new core i5 machine with 4 gb of RAM. They wouldn't give us upgrades for next 2 years either!
My next place was a large uni so I basically ordered what ever I want
Current place, ok they've given me an old workstation for 2010, but its got quad core Xeons, 16 gb of ram and SSD's. Currently using a Dell M6800 with 32 gb of ram and core i7. So the computers are generally fine, rest of the infrastructure is a bit make do and mend and they only have a 3mb line. But that's rural broadband for you.
core duo
256 mb ram
integrated intel GMA graphics
I kid you not
I couldn't even do the excel macros I was trying to write on it. Not sure what they were thinking. One guy who started a little later got a brand new core i5 machine with 4 gb of RAM. They wouldn't give us upgrades for next 2 years either!
My next place was a large uni so I basically ordered what ever I want
Current place, ok they've given me an old workstation for 2010, but its got quad core Xeons, 16 gb of ram and SSD's. Currently using a Dell M6800 with 32 gb of ram and core i7. So the computers are generally fine, rest of the infrastructure is a bit make do and mend and they only have a 3mb line. But that's rural broadband for you.
I much prefer SMEs. Less politics.
I am in sales so if I am doing well, I am ze greatest!!
If I'm not doing well I can blame the IT infrastructure, customer service dept, technical support, my three year old Merc etc etc.
If you see a problem, suggest a cost effect solution.
Much easier to make a positive impact in an SME that a multi national IMHO
EtA: lol, just realised I read thread title as 'is it crap.....?'
I am in sales so if I am doing well, I am ze greatest!!
If I'm not doing well I can blame the IT infrastructure, customer service dept, technical support, my three year old Merc etc etc.
If you see a problem, suggest a cost effect solution.
Much easier to make a positive impact in an SME that a multi national IMHO
EtA: lol, just realised I read thread title as 'is it crap.....?'
Edited by steveT350C on Wednesday 4th March 18:52
A company I was doing some work for in 2010 where just in the process of 'upgrading' from WinNT to XP! Had taken them over a year of testing and the role out was a long and troublesome process, they even instigated Lotus Notes rather than Outlook! I'm no longer there, I wonder if they're on Win7 now?
The flip sie is that many large, well funded organisations get IT very wrong, just look at HMRC and NHS and the wasted millions on failed projects. I had a large US client who spunked £70m trying to get their European business onto Oracle only to decide to go SAP a few years later, then see the SAP project fail after £35m spent. The business is still running on the IBM platform it was using in the 1990s, no wonder they're in the shxt
IT is pretty poor at my place.
Sub par printers for work we do, constant problems with the externally hosted email, server is becoming outdated and can't seem to cope with the minimal load it's placed under.
My laptop is the best in the office, and it's nothing amazing. i5 2.6GHz processor & 8GB ram. The other laptops here are 32 bit, first gen i3 processor and 2gb of ram. Barely working, yet no replacements are planned.
Sub par printers for work we do, constant problems with the externally hosted email, server is becoming outdated and can't seem to cope with the minimal load it's placed under.
My laptop is the best in the office, and it's nothing amazing. i5 2.6GHz processor & 8GB ram. The other laptops here are 32 bit, first gen i3 processor and 2gb of ram. Barely working, yet no replacements are planned.
I visit a large number of IT departments for my job, and the variety across organisations is huge. Some places are still bumping along on XP and Win Server 2000/20003 whilst others are continuously investing/updating. I can usually tell within 5 seconds of walking on site which I'm dealing with - and it rarely has anything to do with turnover.
Ironically, the companies that have put off any investment/forward thinking and trying to 'make do and mend' are usually the ones who have the biggest holes from a compliance point of view (I work in ITAM/ITSM).
Ironically, the companies that have put off any investment/forward thinking and trying to 'make do and mend' are usually the ones who have the biggest holes from a compliance point of view (I work in ITAM/ITSM).
With small companies the issue is often that there is no IT department (nor budget for one) and looking after that side of the business is taken care of by someone who has a different job description with no time or inclination to deal with computer issues. All hands are on deck doing the job of the company and therefore IT spend tends to be driven by immediate need rather than forward planning. There are obvious caveats for businesses that require strong IT facilities to create or provide their product or service, however small business is not normally the place to go if you expect strong IT facilities.
I remember in '96 our company had a desktop with a 500MB hard disk and a 386 running on a 56k modem connection and a laptop with a black and white screen. It took lots of begging to get our first ISDN connection and an upgrade to Win '98!
I remember in '96 our company had a desktop with a 500MB hard disk and a 386 running on a 56k modem connection and a laptop with a black and white screen. It took lots of begging to get our first ISDN connection and an upgrade to Win '98!
Unless you work in IT you won't understand!
I do and have been on both sides of the budget line so to speak!
Previous place, investment started with people, as such IT was given almost a carte blanche with budget, new machine for everyone every 2 years, always pretty much the latest and greatest. New server? No problem! New toys? No problem! You name it we could have it and IT was one of the most loved and respected departments in the business and it was a great place to be!
Place before, I ran the IT, I had to fight for every pound spent unless it was for a director of course! People would complain at me all the time and I would do my best for them, sometimes we would win but it was rare! Getting them to upgrade from an 8MB ADSL line for 30 people to 30MB fibre was a chore, trouble was long term it was going to save them money but short term it was a cost, eventually I won the battle but I had lost the will at that point and skirted out the door to the place above!
Now although still in IT I am essentially just another user, investment is mediocre, kit is average spec (i5 Proc, 4GB RAM for basic users, 8GB for advanced) network is run by the US and the local guys get really frustrated with it as they are running a network full of ex sys admins who sit here knowing it could be done better but also having sympathy for the IT guys as they literally have their hands tied. While far from terrible it isn’t great just lots of little things that add up to big annoyances!
Turnover is not proportional to IT spend, it’s the attitude from above that controls it, sadly with BYOD becoming common place and people still seeing IT as a necessary evil rather than a department to be supported and invested in nothing will ever change!
I do and have been on both sides of the budget line so to speak!
Previous place, investment started with people, as such IT was given almost a carte blanche with budget, new machine for everyone every 2 years, always pretty much the latest and greatest. New server? No problem! New toys? No problem! You name it we could have it and IT was one of the most loved and respected departments in the business and it was a great place to be!
Place before, I ran the IT, I had to fight for every pound spent unless it was for a director of course! People would complain at me all the time and I would do my best for them, sometimes we would win but it was rare! Getting them to upgrade from an 8MB ADSL line for 30 people to 30MB fibre was a chore, trouble was long term it was going to save them money but short term it was a cost, eventually I won the battle but I had lost the will at that point and skirted out the door to the place above!
Now although still in IT I am essentially just another user, investment is mediocre, kit is average spec (i5 Proc, 4GB RAM for basic users, 8GB for advanced) network is run by the US and the local guys get really frustrated with it as they are running a network full of ex sys admins who sit here knowing it could be done better but also having sympathy for the IT guys as they literally have their hands tied. While far from terrible it isn’t great just lots of little things that add up to big annoyances!
Turnover is not proportional to IT spend, it’s the attitude from above that controls it, sadly with BYOD becoming common place and people still seeing IT as a necessary evil rather than a department to be supported and invested in nothing will ever change!
matrignano said:
tobster said:
Not just you. The bank I work in is still running Windows XP so we're limited on RAM so instead of having one PC I have to have two to do my job !
Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
Sounds like my bank...Plus IT helpdesk has been farmed out to Eastern Europe with a turnaround time of about a day to resolve a problem someone in London could do in 10 minutes !
I'm in IT worked all kinds of sizes.
IT is a crap shoot really. I've worked in a couple of places where the IT spend was crazy - I was given a budget of £500k to deploy ground up infrastructure for 40 people. I've also been in places with 20000+ users with a fight tooth and claw for every penny.
The common factor in these have been the CFO/FD of the business. If you get one that sees IT simply as a cost on the books, you fight tooth and claw, if you get one that sees the worth of IT and how it affects the business' ability to operate smoothly, you get a decent purse to play with.
Currently at a large end of medium place which has massive ambitions and with that a need to keep on top of latest releases (exchange, sharepoint, lync, server etc etc all within 6 months of release), however my bonusable objectives keep getting signed off as complete when budgets are pulled for them, or spent elsewhere. Makes my bonus run well, but my god we've got some shonky hardware.
IT is a crap shoot really. I've worked in a couple of places where the IT spend was crazy - I was given a budget of £500k to deploy ground up infrastructure for 40 people. I've also been in places with 20000+ users with a fight tooth and claw for every penny.
The common factor in these have been the CFO/FD of the business. If you get one that sees IT simply as a cost on the books, you fight tooth and claw, if you get one that sees the worth of IT and how it affects the business' ability to operate smoothly, you get a decent purse to play with.
Currently at a large end of medium place which has massive ambitions and with that a need to keep on top of latest releases (exchange, sharepoint, lync, server etc etc all within 6 months of release), however my bonusable objectives keep getting signed off as complete when budgets are pulled for them, or spent elsewhere. Makes my bonus run well, but my god we've got some shonky hardware.
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