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Long the Anonymous Cogs in Corporate America’s Back Office, Work-From-Home Crises Have Put the IT Department in the Spotlight (bloomberg.com) 69
[…] The way most IT departments are set up has meant many directors have been juggling major issues alongside relatively minor ones. At Bay Area transit agency SamTrans, IT manager Edward Kelly got help from AT&T to quickly increase the speed of connections to the agency’s networks once its 200 employees made the switch to remote work. At the same time, Kelly’s team of five was flooded by calls from employees who’d forgotten their computer password and guessed wrong too many times. He said he’s also hoping people learn to use the “reply-all” button on group emails more sparingly. As many employees’ home computers infuriate them, tensions can run high, said Jennifer Reed, a consultant at IT outsourcing firm Viqtor Davis North America.
- by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @10:47AM (#59921418)
that all IT is going to disappear?
What happened, is it Opposite day today?
- You misread title
Long the Anonymous Cogs in Corporate America’s Back Office, Work-From-Home Crises Have Put the IT Department in the Spotlight
Now you apologize
- You seem to have misread his post. You might want to apologize.
We apologize for the faults in the post. Those responsible have been sacked.
- The bean counters reclassified IT as an “Cost Center” to an “Essential Expense” in the corporate budget.
Yea, right. More likely scenario: “IT budget exceeded expectations in second quarter of 2020. Need to make XX IT positions redundant to offset extra costs by end of third quarter 2020.”
- Hey, why can I no longer order items, why is there no money in our accounts, who are those people repossessing our furniture, and can you tell me where the nearest unemployment office is?
Re:Wait, didn’t I read a report just a day ago (Score:4, Interesting)
by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @11:42AM (#59921590)Most of the Bean Counters never had an Essential Expense bucket to classify groups into.
But companies have always seemed to have this Love-Hate relationship with IT
Here are some of the top reasons.
1. Educated labor force: Most IT workers have good education usually 2 years for entry-level most have 4 years and some people with masters and above. This for one makes them more expensive to hire. And secondly difficult to manage especially for a company that relies a lot on unskilled labor. We rarely ever do what management says, we will do what we feel like, often with the same goal of what management is trying to achieve. Often management is used to dealing with the “Yes Boss” response. Not “I won’t work like that. Let figure out the specs in more detail” which drives them nuts, as it seems that we are exceeding our authority.2. IT Staff expensive and need expensive stuff. We *gasp* have a middle-class salary, and will often need millions of dollars of equipment, for the business to operate. We are not profit centers, so IT is still an expense on the budget sheet, and often big enough to be noticed, and not stuffed under Other.
3. When IT is done right, it is like nothing is done at all. So it seems that things are running well, that you should shrink your IT Staffing because that is a lot of money that doesn’t seem to be fixing anything. However, a lot of the work is to make it invisible. So the CEO doesn’t need to call you or have to report the status of the latest incident. I have found within 1 quarter after significant IT Staff reduction IT problems start building up and the company usually has increasing more problems with their daily operation, and needing to hire staff again (then expensive because turnover costs are high)
4. IT has to work around the limitations of the Computer. Often a simple request isn’t simple to do. The Computer is both your Best Employee and your worst. The Best AI has the IQ of your Dog, where it can learn. But it is slow, and will not be forward-thinking. But it is tireless so it will do a job even if it isn’t as fast as a person would do it over a long period of time. If there is a problem, the computer will do it wrong until manually stopped. So when a request comes in we really need to know all the cases, and cover any ambiguity concerns. And this may take more time then it would for someone to do it themselves.
Most of the Bean Counters never had an Essential Expense bucket to classify groups into.
Sure they do: CEO’s pay, CEO’s bonuses, CEO’s hookers, CEO’s blow, CEO etc.
- There’s also the somewhat fraught issue of both being responsible for security and reliability and (at least ideally) enabling other areas of the business and not just keeping the email flowing at status-quo levels.
if IT is playing pure Mr. No they aren’t doing their jobs properly; but if they are failing to analyze the details and warn people that “this thing you want is going to present a serious risk unless we do something more complicated and expensive that looks like an identical outcome from your p
- by dfm3 ( 830843 )That was a Cringely article. Meaning, you can expect the exact opposite of what it predicts. Sure enough, here’s an article showing proof of just how full of it Cringely predictions are.
- by PPH ( 736903 )
all IT is going to disappear
Fear not. This pandemic is a minor speed bump on management’s rush to outsource the whole operation. In spite of recent lessons learned to the contrary.
Lesson learned if IT works 72 hours without breaks, the solution gets in place, where it would normally take months.
- by PPH ( 736903 )
the solution gets in place
Except that comments don’t get added, documentation doesn’t get written and the source gets misplaced. Yeah, it works. But when you bring that next group of Cobol programmers in in 20 years, nobody will be able to figure the stuff out.
- That’s ok, we’ll just build it all again from scratch using $SHINYNEW language. That way we can pay for it out of CapEx instead of OpEx budget.
Not trying to be a downer, but I’m guessing the story overstates things somewhat: the businesses that are almost certainly doing best with WFH are those that have done the most to move to cloud based, managed, IT.
I myself am keeping open an RDP session to my work PC because it’s easier to use certain tools there and that’s where many of my files are, but I’m doing a sizable amount of work from my home PC without installing anything except Microsoft Teams (which I don’t need to, the web app is apparently
What happened, is it Opposite day today?
I want to say “yes”, but I’ll go with “no” just to not make unsure it isn’t confusing to you.
- Yep, I remember it too, IT was going to disappear as companies move to SAP and WAN systems. I never saw where these systems were going to suddenly appear from or who would maintain them since the previous article said that IT was dying.
Oh, please, IT is never “in the spotlight” (Score:5, Informative)
by Seven Spirals ( 4924941 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @10:57AM (#59921454)Give me a break. IT is never going to be “cool” or “popular” around the office. We could fly in riding unicorns and saving babies and nobody would give a shit. I’m not complaining, I like being left alone. Just disabuse yourself of any notion that working with computers is going to be seen as cool or get you laid. Just forget it.No I’m supposed to help people get their work done and then get paid. I’m not required to be happy about anything.
And when this shit is all over with….you can fully expect that IT will be quickly forgotten about.
IT is still a service. And the LJ5 up on third floor isn’t loading it’s own toner cartridge. Chop chop, IT boy.
Really, when I worked in a firmware development lab, we didn’t let IT touch any of the machines in there. Go work on the receptionists digital pendiflex.
To be fair they were no more antisocial nuts than most of the white-collar workers.
However, after 20 years or so, these guys realized that they knew stuff that would make firing them expensive, so they were able to do stuff that other jobs would just fire the person on the spot.Back in the 1990s the Old IT Guy who was the cranky antisocial nut, who was also the only person that could keep the mainframe working, would do things like go to the bathroom in the potted plants, dress in rags, and just be rude to
- Yes, then 5-15 years later they found a lot of those new hires never checked the backups to make sure they worked. They found those new hires did not plan/configure enough virtual servers to handle heavy loads like what happen at Christmas, and the entire order system melted down one December. They found those new hires did not know how to make sure their systems were secured against outside information stealers. Hire someone new and cheap can back fire.
Technology ceased to be magic many, many years ago when everybody acquired a device in their pocket that could search the world’s knowledge or make Pokemon appear in the aisles of Wal-Mart.
If you work in tech you have to find your own satisfaction in making a dozen tiny miracles happen every day. It will rarely, if ever, be given to you. Ubiquity killed the mystery.
Technology ceased to be magic many, many years ago when everybody acquired a device in their pocket that could search the world’s knowledge or make Pokemon appear in the aisles of Wal-Mart.
If you work in tech you have to find your own satisfaction in making a dozen tiny miracles happen every day. It will rarely, if ever, be given to you. Ubiquity killed the mystery.
Yep. My most common issue that I contact IT for is our remote updating program disabling the wireless cards on our laptops, so sometimes when I work from home I have to plug into a wired connection, call IT, have them remote in, wait for them go through their script, then reenable the wireless card. All told, about a 30-45 minute ordeal. Or, if it wasn’t locked down, I could have it fixed on my own in less than 2 minutes.
40 years working with computers ( since I was 7 ) and everyday I look for little miracles. You just think for second how much kit and knowledge has gone into allowing me to type nonsense into box on a “TV screen” and then have 250 people read it in seconds and consider me a complete dickwad, they can even reply and tell you so! Tech is great! ha ha!
Chill out, dickwad.
- This would have been great if people ONLY read what is wtitten instead of what they want it to say.
The problem is we don’t get the visibility that we often deserve.
The accountants have to show their results to the CEO, where they get to talk to them and know them personally. While IT are those guys in the basement. and the CEO may just talk to the CIO. So we are just a faceless expense on the books.- by RobinH ( 124750 )Every single time I’ve ridden into the room on the back of a unicorn, I’ve gotten laid.
Getting fucked by the unicorn doesn’t count.
Just disabuse yourself of any notion that working with computers is going to be seen as cool or get you laid.
Wait, are you saying PornHub doesn’t count?
We are an exception I guess.
Password resets are self-service. If you can remember your name, you’re well on your way to resetting any password, not just login, but various internal systems. I now have 31 different passwords to track. If I have my phone, I have the 2FA needed to reset any of them, even setting in a Starbucks, which I can’t sit in right now.
We’ve converted our front line workforce from 0% WAH to 70%. No one who has an Internet connection and a place for a 14″ laptop has to stop work. Worldwid
IT was ready for this before it happened, as just about everyone seems to have laptops now instead of desktop units. The headache from working at home is lack of access to stuff that isn’t computing (the lab, equipment, supplies, etc).
I have a relative who just took a new job. He accepted before the lockdown, but his job started after lockdown. He had his new computer shipped to him. But after a couple of weeks he still has not gotten access to the files he needs and IT seems incapable of helping him.
This headline sure aged well…
https://it.slashdot.org/story/… [slashdot.org]
- by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @11:18AM (#59921514)
One of the things that companies don’t realize is how Complex a proper IT infrastructure is. The Execs will see the jobs that IT does as nothing in particular difficult. However, there are a lot of simple steps, with many simple steps have effects that hit elsewhere, as well as planning for the future.
I will often get my request denied because I do not have a concrete example of why I need something, only to need it in an emergency (often at emergency pricing) later because the concrete example came into play.
Things like, should our VoIP office phones be able to work from home? They will often respond No, we want people to be at the office using their phones, they can use their cell phones when they are working off-hours from work. Now, that the workforce is working from home we are finding that cell phones are not optimal for telephone calls all day. So IT is rushing to come up with a solution to get this working securely. Where it could have been a no brainer if it was set up for secure home use from when it was implemented.
Part of the problem with IT is when we do our job right, it is like we didn’t do anything at all. When they don’t get what they need, and just don’t trust them to make wise decisions, then we have problems that shouldn’t be.
IT is getting the spotlight now because all the warnings and requests we had put in, is shown to be needed now. And now we are rushing to get everything in place, where companies are spending millions of extra dollars for stuff, that could have been thousands of dollars just a few weeks ago. With a couple of IT workers getting the project working in a few weeks. Without Executive oversight and when the problem did happen, we would be yea we are fine.
The biggest challenge we’re currently facing within my organization is hardware procurement… We pretty quickly ran through our warehouse stock of everything from laptops to docking stations, monitors, UPS’s, to even display cables and it’s been hell trying to get more in stock. Orders we placed at the start of March are only now beginning to ship out.
FWIW, our team took desktops off the desks and issued them to converted WAH staff. We also, due to fortuitous chance, had a huge stock of spares on the shelf. Chance… Display cables were the tough spot, but the deployed desktops can use HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA interchangeably. Cables were found.
- by vux984 ( 928602 )
Yup, my wife simply brought her office desktop PC home with her. tower, cables, two monitors…
- So I just had to call my helpdesk because I’m having problems logging in. One of the requirements for a solid IT department is staffing it with 1)competent people who can 2) speak the same language as the callers at some level – and it doesn’t have to be awesome – I’m talking low hurdle here. I couldn’t understand this guy at all. I speak English, and some French since i’m in Canada and my mom’s french. I had no idea what this guy was saying. Frustrating as hell.
Obligatory IT Crowd [youtube.com]
Probably because IT support pays peanuts to any other tech job, so any competent staff you have will, and should, go somewhere more competent.
You get what you pay for and no one cares about this.
IT is now a cookie cutter job. You don’t go to school for it, instead you get certificates from a Microsoft indoctrination class. Then they try to upgrade your Macbook to Windows 10…
The problem with cookie cutter jobs is that 1) it is very difficult to compete against a million people with identical skills all applying for the same jobs, 2) the salary goes way down because someone can do the same job better and more cheaply. The solution to this is to stop trying to be a cookie cutter worker, be unique,
- Well, neither French nor English is going to help you if the IT guy speaks Hindi.
You mean the guys who make hindi games?
Just wait until October (Score:5, Insightful)
by khchung ( 462899 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @12:00PM (#59921646) JournalWhen the pandemic is either over or became the new normal, suddenly companies will be laying off IT staff to be replaced by offshore teams.
Since everyone are already working remotely, it doesn’t matter where they are anymore.
As much as I don’t like saying this now or in the before article, I believe this very well may become the case. While I personally don’t care where the person I’m talking to is, if rather them be at home in a different state than 14 hours away by flight for latency alone. What I hope is people get tired of being at home and want to go to work just to get out of the house and be around different people, even if they don’t like those very same people. If not, IT is going to get really weird looking for the IT
In the spotlight for the same reasons as always… (Score:5, Insightful)
by eepok ( 545733 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @12:20PM (#59921722) HomepageScenario #1
Status: Everything is working according to user experience
Response: “Nothing’s broken. What do we even pay you for?”
Headlines: “IT Jobs to Succumb to Robots, Automation, and AI”Scenario #2
Status: Things are breaking, resources are not available
Response: “This isn’t working. What do we even pay you for?”
Headlines: “IT Workers Scrambling to Keep Up”- by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @12:49PM (#59921792)IT people have long been as or more important than accountants and lawyers to any large organization. The only difference is that we don’t have a professional organization that sets the bar for capability so we don’t get treated as seriously.
- Accountants get paid more because their work is more measurable. You want the best accountant and you know if you get one even if you don’t know accounting yourself. You want the best IT staff but every companies IT needs are vastly different. You have no way of comparing your IT team to another team. This is similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… [wikipedia.org] in that the lack of knowledge among the buyers of IT (the company payroll) leads to much lower salaries.
Now I just have more manufactured emergencies to deal with. Nothing changed really, just more people expect me to jump when they snap their fingers.
…people expect me to jump when they snap their fingers.
If Thanos calls, don’t answer.
- Are You Finally Thankful for Your IT Person Now? [archive.is]
“an anonymous cog” indeed. EVERYONE’S AN ANONYMOUS COG.
Except maybe sales, they’re pretty sure they’re the most awesome important thing ever.
Whe company I work for set up and got aproximatly 20,000 workers working from home in a matter of 1 week – we were only set up for about 10% of that number, while maintainig BAU and averting outages.
Truely an amazing task- by citylivin ( 1250770 ) on Wednesday April 08, 2020 @06:01PM (#59923092)
In my business, we have no customers, so we have no revenue. IT is surely the last to be let go, but if there is no business, they no longer need an IT department either.
This crisis is fucking everyone. I got everyone working from home in the last few weeks, which has been put on the back burner for years before this. But most of the jobs at my org are customer facing. We are completely shut down for the foreseeable future. There has been layoffs, about half the staff 150 or so. With management desperately trying to secure government money to keep going.
Most businesses are ultimately at the mercy of their customers patronage. Besides annual licensing, and software to deal with working remotely (eg zoom), all other spending has been put on hold now. So we are not spending money, which means other businesses in the economy are not getting that money. Its a huge fucking set of dominoes that WILL effect your business very soon, if it has not already.
We are in a major depression, the effects of which will be felt for years to come.
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