Discussion on:

Five strategies for streamlining support

Do you manage IT for a small to mid-size business? What other cost-effective support strategies would you recommend for others who don't enjoy the beneifts of a large IT staff?

The less there is for people to mess up, the less time you'll be spending cleaning up their mistakes. Take advantage of the tools available out there (i.e., Group Policy in a Windows environment). Limit access to network resources - grant only what's necessary. AntiVirus / anti-spyware. Patch management (i.e., Windows SUS). E-mail and web filters. Have a good IT security/use policy that's endorsed by management.

User training - find low-cost opportunities for training on the programs most commonly used by your end-users.

Printing - this is probably one of the biggest headaches. Resist the temptation to use color - it's expensive and there's more parts to break and more consumables to buy. Go networked laser - get rid of the desktop inkjet or laser printers. Don't give into bullsh!t security or privacy concerns as a reason to keep an inkjet around - many networked lasers allow for secure printing.

Workstations - standardize your workstation. Single vendor, single model. Easier to clone and deploy - and replace. Replace on a schedule (i.e., every 5 yrs). You may have to go as far as disabling floppy and CD-ROM drives and running 3rd party software to disable thumb drives. Group Policy will disable the user's ability to install their own software brought in from home or the internet.

Exceptions - if they don't have a business justification for an exception to the rule, then don't give in to their request.

The more preparation you do up front, the less handholding and clean-up you'll have to do in the long run. You're going to have helpdesk calls and stupid users no matter what... how well you can manage and reduce the call volume is entirely up to you. Remember that you need to balance the general health of your network/server infrastructure against the wants and whims of your end-users who are accusing you of being the Computer Nazi beacuse you won't let them install a game or surf the internet unabated.

We have a few different applications that are homegrown and, unfortunately, require the end user to have local administrative rights on their workstations. Those poses a number of challenges, but is kept in check simply by the workload. The users have such a large volume of work to complete that they really have no time to install software. We currently only have around 100 workstations so it is feasible for me to walk around and visually inspect each box. This will change as we grow, however, so I'll need to work on a different strategy.

I've managed IT for many sizes of company and I think my 5 below would come in handy anywhere:
1. Expand your team virtually by selectively outsourcing. Look for things that take up a lot of your time, but for little gain or have a high business value that you can't afford to fail and get a 3rd party to look after them for you, i.e. get your supplier to deliver, unpack and build your PCs for you or outsource your email servers to a 3rd party.
2. Standardise and reduce the complexity of your desktop. Use a few standard images, serve applications or preferably whole desktops via thin client (maybe outsource thin client hosting).
3. Write an SLA and gather metrics (call volumes, server/network up time, etc) and make sure senior management know about it through reports - they'rll be more likely to involve you in future decisions if you show how you add value now and it helps when you need new stuff championed for expansion later.
4. If you can, get a resource to do your first line support as soon as possible. The right person will hugely improve your perceived level of service and free you up to concentrate on real added value work.
5. Never think it's too soon to complete a Business Continuity Plan and a Disaster Recovery plan.