Technology
Best Practices
Peruse I.T. or Lose I.T.
By Phara
McLachlan, President, Animus Solutions
Published: April / May 2008
Congratulations! Your
start-up business is prospering and growing. In the
early days, no one thought twice about the president of
the company personally installing the new server or
printing the new training manuals. Now it is someone
else’s job to do those things while the president has a
full schedule managing the business.
Growing from a “get it done” environment to a business
with an infrastructure is a tough transition that can
derail success. Informal processes fall apart at this
point, leading to expensive or distracting issues. As an
IT consultant and president of a growing technical
consulting company, I have seen numerous problems begin
with improperly managed IT. For instance, I know of a
software company manager who was laid off when the
start-up was acquired. No one thought to ask for his
laptop, so he started his new job with excellent
competitive information. The intellectual property,
competitive data and customer information of the company
was jeopardized, and no one knew what was missing.
Neither security on the network or careful wording in a
contract is going to help prevent this type of
unexpected loss.
Have you noticed that software audits hit small
companies as often, if not more so, as the large
companies? Size is no excuse for having unlicensed
software in the environment. Start-ups try to make the
work place special with friendly perks. Installing a
no-charge espresso machine is a good idea. Allowing
staffers to upload their music to the server so all can
share is a bad idea. Copyright law applies to music,
software, and documentation alike. Corporate policies
about who owns the equipment and what is on it have to
be enforced to have any merit.
These problems are only a few of the reasons that you
should consider managing your hardware and software as a
must rather than a “nice to have.” If you don’t, you
have forgotten:
-
How much money all of that
technology has cost. Maximizing use and retention
protects the investment.
-
Securing an environment
requires knowing what type of equipment is accessing the
network.
-
When pursuing funding, an
acquisition, merger or sale of the company, due
diligence may require information about the investment
in software and hardware.
-
Software publishers and
their enforcement groups (BSA, SIIA, FAST) routinely
audit any size of company to insure proper licensing has
occurred. This may be as simple as being assessed the
list price and as expensive as being charged fines, as
well as the cost of purchases.
-
Bad publicity is not a good
thing.
For these reasons alone,
managing assets requires your attention. Small companies
certainly don’t need to go out and buy a system to
manage their assets. Consider treating your IT like you
would a beloved pedigreed dog:
-
Tag it so you can find it.
-
Keep the paperwork that
proves ownership.
-
Don’t buy from just anyone,
use trusted sources.
-
Make sure everyone knows the
rules for working with it.
-
Be consistent in following
the rules.
By completing these steps in
a repeatable and sustainable way, you will have an IT
infrastructure that supports your growing company,
reduces risk, saves money and demonstrates your business
savvy in a practical way.
As CEO of Animus
Solutions, Phara McLachlan, CITAM, CSAM is committed to
delivering practical solutions. Phara’s extensive
corporate consulting experiences guide the company’s IT
asset management, software asset management, service
management and IT security services. McLachlan is a
graduate of the University of South Florida and holds
industry and software provider certifications.
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