With tech and IT services being essential for nearly everything employees do, IT professionals are an indispensable part of an organisation’s everyday operations. As stated by Richard Orange, Vice President EMEA at Exabeam, “From technical to analytical operations, IT specialists are responsible for so many essential aspects of IT systems used by companies and consumers every day. This includes functions such as designing and building technical controls, maintaining technology systems, carefully handling data, and ensuring compliance with privacy legislation.”
Despite their involvement with such a variety of vital functions, unfortunately, these IT pros are often overlooked and underappreciated. This is because, as noted by Donnie MacColl, Director of EMEA Technical Services at HelpSystems, “More often than not, we only notice how vital their work is to our day-to-day lives when things go wrong.”
IT Pro Day recognises just how important these colleagues are in overseeing and maintaining the infrastructures that support our digital experiences every day. As expressed by MacColl, “IT Pro Day is a chance to show our appreciation, take notice of what is so often overlooked and say “thanks for all you do” to the IT Pros in our lives.”
Recognising their role in threat protection
One crucial aspect of the work IT pros do daily is their involvement in the protection against security threats. As noted by Neil Jones, Director of Cybersecurity Evangelism at Egnyte, “Data breaches and cyber attacks can cause significant reputational damage and result in costly fines.” He continues, “it is the work of these dedicated professionals that prevents many organisations from experiencing all-out disasters.”
However, although “they are the first port of call when technology goes wrong”, IT pros “are often overlooked for the work they do to keep the technology-lights on and keep their businesses protected from online threats” – Gregg Mearing, Chief Technology Officer at Node4, adds to the conversation.
Not only are their security efforts so often underappreciated, but this aspect of their work is only getting harder. Christopher Rogers, Technology Evangelist at Zerto, acknowledges this increasing challenge: “As if that wasn’t difficult enough, ransomware attacks are at an all-time high, with 1 in 40 organisations being impacted by them every week. The pressure is on IT professionals now more than ever.”
Acknowledging the challenge of hybrid working
Aside from the increasing challenges of cybersecurity, IT professionals have also had to face the obstacles brought about by the move to hybrid work systems.
Rogers expresses how difficult these changes have been for these members of the team:
“For IT professionals, the last few years have required constant adaptation and innovation to meet the needs of their organisations. From the almost instantaneous shift to remote working, to the more gradual return to the office and finding a balance with hybrid systems of working, the IT Pro has had to tackle the challenge of managing cybersecurity risks and maintaining IT resilience as we shift the way we like to work.”
As said by MacColl, “During the pandemic, IT Pros worked tirelessly to ensure that firstly remote and later hybrid working was a possibility. They secured entire infrastructures end to end, and it’s thanks to these experts’ ability to embrace change and adapt, that employees today have the flexibility to work in whatever environment they wish to.”
Their involvement in making these changes to the way we work is just another example of the impact the hard work of these IT pros has on our everyday lives.
How can organisations support their IT pros?
Though IT Pro Day is the perfect opportunity to go out of the way to appreciate everything our IT pros do, it is also important for organisations to invest in the tools and services to support their employees all year round.
Craig Fulton, Chief Customer Officer at ConnectWise, highlights the importance of this: “As the world shifts into a new era of work driven by accelerated digital transformation, supporting and equipping IT pros in this ever-changing environment should be mission critical.”
He goes on to suggest that organisations should prioritise adopting automation services to help ease the burden on their IT teams, explaining that “using a PSA solution to automate workflows not only improves IT teams’ productivity, it also enhances the customer experience by clarifying accountability and giving clients a more effective way to communicate with your teams. When looking to minimise chaos and drive efficiency, many MSPs are turning to remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools to make it easier to deal with complex IT environments that span traditional offices and less-secure work-from-home setups. These can help ease the pressure on IT pros by proactively monitoring to prevent problems and automatically fixing common issues by scripting basic tasks and documenting the results.”
Providing these tools and services to support IT pros is now more important than ever. As Jones emphasises: “With skills shortages leading to under-resourced teams, it’s vital that organisations offer their IT staff all the support that they can. For example, providing technical teams with the right tools that allow them to automate processes wherever possible is key to ensuring their success. Similarly, employers should be regularly checking in on the well-being of the team and individual team members. It’s time that they are collectively recognised for the tireless work they do.”
Make sure to celebrate them this IT Pro day!
As expressed by Mearing, “We would talk about them a lot more if they were not so good at their jobs!” So IT Pro Day is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the everyday IT heroes in your organisation, whose hard work often goes unnoticed.