Are Information Technology services under-appreciated? IT gets called out often when things go wrong, yet seldom acknowledged by service users when things go right. According to Raif Mehmet, VP EMEA at Bitglass, IT service desks should get a ‘shout out’ for their efforts facilitating remote working during the COVID-19 disruption.
According to Raif Mehmet: “Most users do not think about Information Technology until something goes wrong. As more companies move their systems to the cloud, the role of the system administrator (or sysadmin) becomes ever more complex, as companies now need to manage comprehensive cloud security platforms. ”
The increase in reliance upon remote IT services, according to Forbes. While the coronavirus has accelerated the trend, the activity is likely to continue well into 2021 and, for many workers, to become the new normal way of engaging in business activities.
Perhaps the key role that IT services play is with security protection, something that requires even more oversight as more people are using their own devices, as Mehmet explains: “A recent study found that 69 percent of respondents said that they are allowed to use personal devices to perform their work, while some even enable BYOD for contractors, partners, customers and suppliers. Enter stage left the sysadmin, or wider IT / IT Security team, to fix things when they break (which they will) – whether that’s down to drive-by malware, or a coffee spill. It’s no mean feat to deliver the balance of productivity and security.”
He concludes by saying it’s time to support IT service desk personnel: “Ultimately a key responsibility of sysadmins is to keep the lights on, or in other words, uptime – and for that they deserve to be celebrated 365 days of the year.”
There is even a SysAdminDay, which is an annual event created by system administrator Ted Kekatos.
