Steve Savage, president of AdvizeIT Consulting Services Inc. in Toronto, says a good tech manager might make more strategic suggestions, such as implementing a disaster recovery plan with data backed up for a full two weeks, allocating money in next year's budget to replace an aging server or adopting an antivirus program configured so the server automatically pushes updates to each desktop instead of relying on staff to install the updates.

Once you've hired someone, you'll need to track their performance. Savage says you probably won't need detailed monthly reports, but rather occasional status reports on major projects such as upgrading the e-mail system. He says employee satisfaction should be your primary metric. Ask staff about the IT manager's responsiveness and listening skills. Is she organized, or does she always have 50 half-finished jobs on the go? Ask a close supplier to compare notes on downtime. If your IT person protected you from a virus that nailed your lawyer or accountant, that's a good sign.

Read the full article.

When Virox was compiling a short list, its auditor recommended AdvizeIT. Harry says he felt the company was a good fit because its people talked in plain English about how they could help Virox's business, and were willing to come in outside standard business hours to avoid disrupting work flow. And it was the only one shortlisted that banked unused hours — which Virox drew on in May when it moved its network as part of an office relocation...

One of the first things AdvizeIT did when Virox hired it 18 months ago was implement a disaster recovery program. Before that, Harry had personally backed up files, but only selected ones. AdvizeIT now backs up all the data and stores it safely off-site.

If problems arise between AdvizeIT's every-other-week visits, Virox files a report at AdvizeIT's website, indicating whether it's low, medium or high priority, says Harry. "In the past year and a half, we may have filed only six or seven of those," including low-priority ones. And "if we go online to tell them we have a high-priority problem, somebody will be on the phone within a few minutes." This has built confidence in the network's integrity, "and far more time to focus on things we should be focussing on." Thanks to its solid relationship with AdvizeIT, says Harry, Virox is considering an IT project that would cut costs and fuel growth, one it couldn't even consider if it were still managing its own tech. At press time, he was about to ask Virox's board to spend $30,000 to $50,000 to convert to a thin-client network in which a server, not individual terminals, would do the processing. This project would include switching to Microsoft Office XP from the outdated Office 97 suite Virox uses now.

Harry says a thin-client network would save serious money because the computer towers cost $300 per terminal, far less than the $1,000 per in a conventional network. It would be more secure, because terminals wouldn't have CD or DVD drives through which people could copy and remove files. And, crucially, it would offer superior software planning tools. These would permit Virox to make better use of programs for database marketing, customer relationship management and other functions to spot and exploit new opportunities. If the project is greenlighted, Virox's relationship with AdvizeIT will evolve beyond the convenience of having someone else worry about its network into a partnership to use IT to help grow the company.