Supporting your ICT

Good-quality ICT support is trustworthy, appropriate to your needs, available when you need it at a price you can afford – but where do you find it and how do you know whether it’s any good?

• Who can you turn to for help when you need it?
• Who knows what software you’re using and can suggest how to fix it?
• Who understands error messages and what to do about them?
• Who knows whether your computers will cope with new demands, such as having a database installed?
• Who do you ask for a price when you need something new?
• Who do you check with to make sure you’re not being ripped off?

In many cases the answer may lie in a combination of arrangements, reflecting your needs and the resources available to you. Options will include:

• fingers crossed
• volunteer support
• ‘accidental techies’
• circuit riders/ICT development workers
• ICT support contract
• in-house staff
• consultants

Each option is explained in this section.

Be clear about your needs

Getting the right support means thinking about your needs before crisis strikes.You need to budget for paying for the help you need, or recruit volunteers to cover regular tasks before things go wrong. You will need to think about:

• short-term, immediate needs
  • someone to help when problems happen;
  • day-to-day troubleshooting, quick fixes, short cuts, reminders about how to do something, contact with external suppliers or volunteers.
• medium-term, routine needs
  • someone to keep your ICT ticking over;
  • advice and help with routine tasks, such as back-up, security, software updates, routine maintenance, anti-virus and antispam solutions, passwords, user accounts, file management, updating inventory and software licences, dealing with insurance issues, recording problems as they arise and maintaining a troubleshooting guide.
• Long-term, strategic needs
  • someone to look at your needs over time;
  • ICT planning, budgeting, mentoring, project management, data protection requirements, being aware of relevant trends and new ideas;
  • someone to lead projects: defining requirements, finding, choosing and managing suppliers on projects such as software and hardware purchase, website design, database development, training, and network installation.
• What is their hourly rate for any work outside the scope of this project?

Fingers crossed

You’ve just spent £3,000 setting up three workstations and a network. You have broadband and a shared colour printer, a file-sharing server and nice new flat screens, the network is up and running and everyone has a legal copy of the software they need. You brought the installation in on time and just a few quid over budget.

But what happens when something goes wrong?

Any new equipment will have a warranty or guarantee that covers things if they go wrong. If a monitor is flickering, call the people who sold it you. If the printer won’t print, you can get the person who sold it to you to come in and make sure it does – or replace it. When the Internet isn’t working, call the people who sold it to you to see if it’s a fault at their end.

The liability of the person who sold you the equipment will cover the fact that it should work properly when they install it. They will refer to manufacturers’ warranties and send things back if they break within the warranty period, but they may not do much else.

If you contracted them to set up the system they may have no responsibility for what happens when you start using it. It depends on what you’ve agreed.

They are likely to charge for sorting things out if you don’t keep the anti-virus software up to date and a virus infects everything. They can set up a back-up system for you but they probably aren’t liable if you don’t use it regularly, and they may well charge to come in and put things right if you ever need to retrieve any data.

So you can leave it all to luck. Computer systems do sometimes run smoothly with almost no help or maintenance, and problems can be solved by keeping your warranties and making sure your suppliers do their job when things go wrong. Staff will learn how to deal with niggles and problems when they happen and you’ll save money. But is it worth the risk? And is it the best way to get value from the investment you’ve made?