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Creating an in-office information technology department requires a lot of patience and investment, and even then, you might find yourself struggling to get to the level you want. This challenge is especially true when building the department entirely from scratch. You will need to consider several unique factors to ensure you are not leaving out any essential components or resources. In addition, you will need to invest in tools, personnel, and time to ensure the IT department you put together is adequate for your company’s needs.
If you need an IT department to establish a company-wide network, they will also need you to provide resources. With this article, we hope to provide some guidance and information about what measures you need to take to staff and supply an IT department that can effectively provide the necessary services required of IT professionals.
Allocate a Space for the Server
The first and most important thing needed for a business that relies on technology to access crucial information is a server. Servers are large pieces of hardware that run software that allow the other devices connected to it to properly run and access stored information the users might need to perform their tasks properly.
The hardware requirements of a server scale with the business’s size. Servers require specialized spaces where IT professionals can safely store and maintain the hardware. These spaces have their unique requirements to ensure that the machinery can properly function and not deteriorate beyond the natural rate.
When establishing a server room, the initial step is finding a room that is the appropriate size for the hardware you need. As previously stated, the size of the server machinery you will be using will directly correlate to the size of your company. The more employees you have accessing the server and the more information you have to store on the server, the larger the physical server has to be. This requirement means a space large enough to accommodate the server towers, cables, and other miscellaneous components that grow with your business. You also need to orient the server room with outlets and other immutable factors in mind. Otherwise, you risk creating a server room with no access to reliable power, HVAC, or other concerns.
However, even once your server room is established, it needs regular maintenance and a carefully controlled environment to preserve the server machinery as long as possible. The central aspect of ensuring that your server room remains operational is the strict temperature control of the room.
Server rooms need to remain cool and dry to ensure that the machinery does not overheat and no humidity corrodes the components within the devices themselves. While you might think this means cranking up the air conditioning, you should invest in specialized tools to regulate the room temperature, such as in-row cooling units, and pick a room with a raised floor for the server room. Additionally, you should consider keeping a thermometer in the server room so your IT staff can easily monitor the current room temperature and adjust as necessary.
Having an established server room with functional parts is an essential first step to getting an information technology department up and running. Without a functional server, IT staff will have a notoriously difficult time restoring lost data and will be unable to access the information that the rest of your staff will need to do their jobs. However, a functional server room is not the only thing you need to ensure that your new IT department can live up to your needs and expectations.
Acquire the Appropriate Hardware and Software
The next important step in bringing your IT department up to snuff is making sure that people who staff the department have the tools they need to not only establish your company network, but maintain it. An IT professional is only as effective as the tools they have to do their jobs, and outdated or simply worn down tools will result in lower performance levels. Perhaps one of the most essential tools for an IT department is the internet service your office employs. If you have low-end internet service, your employees will spend more time waiting to reconnect than they will maintaining and constructing networks.
When you are building up an IT department, you will want to contract a reliable internet provider so that your IT staff can build up and maintain the network. It is also vital for your frontline employees since they will need to connect to the network once built successfully. If you skimp out on your internet services, you should not be surprised when your network suffers as a result.
However, your internet is not the only component your IT department needs to produce your company network effectively. Your IT personnel will need their own devices to access the network as they build and maintain it while also rendering technical aid to your other employees. This requirement means you will need to finance the acquisition of modern computers that are compatible with the network your IT department is building.
Once your IT department is fully equipped and the server room has been allocated, your IT department can get to work developing an internal network. This setup will require specific components that your IT specialists will use to establish the network. They will recommend modems, routers, LAN cables, and firewalls that will best suit the network your company needs, and you will have to approve the budget for installation.
However, you could have all the resources and hardware in the world to set up your network, but they are useless without the right people. Therefore, there remains one primary resource you will need to cultivate to create your IT department and company network successfully.
Hiring the IT Professionals
While having all the hardware and software resources you need to establish your IT department and building a network is essential, they are useless if you do not have the people skilled in their maintenance and installation. So your next biggest step is finding ways to vet and hire the best possible candidates and ensure that you can create an effective network. The first thing to consider is what kind of qualifications you are looking for in an information technology professional and what kind of IT staff you are hiring.
One of the IT professionals you will need is a hardware technician who can maintain the physical components of your server room and staff computers. These technicians will need to troubleshoot computer issues, install and set up new programs, collect data and prepare reports, and repair and replace broken parts. Hardware technicians are essential frontline IT professionals who will handle the nitty-gritty parts of your server room and network maintenance.
Another IT professional you will need for network creation and maintenance is an administrator who can oversee the entirety of the network and regulate repair efforts. Network administrators generally have previous experience handling IT systems and networking and are well-versed in implementing security practices. In addition, they are analytical and have a knack for detail, but to rise to such a high rank among IT teams, you will want to ensure they have certain qualifications.
There is a wide array of IT certifications that prove an individual has advanced knowledge of certain IT practices, and administrators need to have several of these certifications to meet all the necessary requirements. For example, you will want a network administrator that has the Certified Network Associate Routing & Switching (CCNA) and Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certifications from Cisco, the CompTIA+, CompTIA Network+, and CompTIA Security+ certifications, and the Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) and Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications from Microsoft. These certifications provide essential training that a network administrator needs to have to oversee a company server network effectively.
These two IT positions are essential members of any IT department focusing on developing and managing a company network. But the biggest issue is finding candidates who have the necessary skills to fill these positions. Unfortunately, IT is such an essential facet in contemporary industries that there is a massive shortage of candidates who can fill even the most basic positions in an IT department. This shortage makes hiring something of a challenge for obvious reasons. In most cases, companies tend to lean towards placing advertisements for the positions on generic job listing websites like LinkedIn and Indeed. However, this is a time and money-consuming option that might not be ideal for you. Fortunately, alternatives do exist.
Outsourcing Can Be The Answer
Many companies believe that the only proper way to implement IT services successfully is to build an in-house IT department. However, this is not always the most viable solution for companies who cannot spare the financial resources to fund such a cost-intensive addition to their offices. Furthermore, even those with the resources might be less enthused about building an on-site server room and funding full-time IT staff. Fortunately, third-party information technology firms bring with them a wide array of benefits that even make on-site IT departments seem less ideal by comparison.
The beauty of IT firms is that they will set up a server for your company, upgrade it as necessary as you continue using their services, and staff a full range of professionals. As a result, you only need to pay them from month-to-month or year-to-year rather than you having to fund the supplies and pay the specialists yourself. Additionally, most third-party firms offer remote service so that you do not need to wait for a specialist to arrive on-site to deal with an issue on an individual machine.
Let us say that your company is based out of New Jersey and relies entirely on a server for your employees to access the information they need to fulfill their tasks. If an employee’s computer somehow loses connection to the server, they would ordinarily have to wait for a technician to come to their office to diagnose and resolve the issue. With remote services, the same firm would have a technician diagnose and resolve the issue without even being in the same room as the computer.
Ultimately, creating an on-site IT department and server is a matter of preference, but taking advantage of outsourced firms will give you access to the same resources and talent you would have with an on-site department with only a fraction of the cost.
Wrapping Up
Creating your own IT department is a costly endeavor and will require you to carefully manage your resources as you go through the development of the department. You will need the necessary parts, personnel, and funds to create a department to build and maintain your company’s internal server. This level of commitment can be draining on your financial resources, and finding the professionals qualified to maintain and build the network is extremely difficult due to the shortage of qualified professionals. Still, once you have them up and running, you will have a much simpler time using network-based information.
However, building an IT department from the ground up is not your only option, and making use of a third-party firm to outsource your IT needs can be just as effective as making your department. At the end of the day, the decision lies with you and should be predicated on the resources you have on hand, along with the overall goals for the network. If you are determined to develop the network yourself, making sure you find the best possible talent and provide them with the right resources is the only real recourse you have.
If you have any questions regarding the process of either building an office network or hiring an IT team to build that network, please reach out and contact us! Not only would we be more than happy to answer your questions, but we may be the team you need to build that network. As mentioned previously, outsourcing your IT needs can come with several benefits to your company, so do not hesitate to reach out and see what we can do for you.
About The Author
Herman
Herman is the lead team member here at Computertech.com. He’s been in IT for over 20 years and has expertise in our various IT Services including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and even Computer Security.
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