Tired Of Paying For IT Upgrades And Seeing No Improvement?

Tired Of Paying For IT Upgrades And Seeing No Improvement?

Too many businesses are victims of what I call “drag and drop” IT — when you’re updating and upgrading your systems, you need them to be properly engineered for improvement, not just maintaining things the way they are.

You’d be surprised how often I hear a business owner say, “Well, I spent a lot of money upgrading technology at my office, and yet, nothing is improved.”

Or maybe it’s not that surprising — have you said the same thing recently?

It’s so common that my team and I have coined a term for it at our office: “Re-engineer versus Drag and Drop.” The idea here is that when businesses pay for an IT problem to be fixed, the IT team in charge of handling it just carries out a standard IT project. The issue is that the solution doesn’t necessarily address the problem, so it ends up being a waste of money.

The Alltek team knows it’s our responsibility as the IT provider to deliver helpful recommendations and effect real change by improving our client’s IT systems, not just completing projects and making sure things stay the way they are.

Have you been a victim of “drag and drop” IT mentality? Maybe you recognize one of these common examples…

4 Examples Of Drag And Drop IT

1. Moving To A New Server: This is a BIG one. A business owner is about to spend thousands of dollars on a new server to boost performance. To make things as EASY as possible, the IT provider does a one to one migration (literally, dragging and dropping the files from one server to another).  Guess what? The same problems persist — permissions issues, remote connection problems, etc. Why? Because the IT team responsible failed to investigate the issue and re-engineering the systems to solve the problem.  Now it has to be fixed on the back end, typically, by my team and me when the client eventually leaves the old provider. This just takes more time, money and effort than if it was just done right at the time of the migration
2. Migrating To Microsoft 365: This happens all the time. A business owner is moving from an on-premise email exchange to Microsoft 365. Instead of sitting down with the client and reviewing their workflow, mailboxes, calendars, and all the other nuances, the IT team cuts corners and says “We’re gonna drag and drop the files”.  They figure the client is already doing it this way, and after all, change can be difficult. While that may be true, re-engineering to a better process is always the better route.
3. Moving File Server Or Other Roles To The Cloud: “I would like to move to the cloud,” the client says. Coincidentally, the IT provider’s head was already in the clouds during the discussion. “Sounds good. This is the plan and here is a quote”, says the IT provider, offering the same cookie-cutter solution they have the latest hundred times they had this conversation. While this may be hyperbole, it’s not too far off from what I have heard from new clients complaining about previous providers.  The fact is that there are many ways to “move to the cloud”. The best route depends on so many factors that are specific to the business model, industry, and preference of the client.  However, the easiest route will always be to drag and drop your current server into a hosted server in a data center. It may not be the most cost-effective, productive, or even reliable (in some cases) solution, but it’s the easiest, so it’s the most likely decision for your garden variety IT provider.
4. Paying For Faster Internet Speeds: In this scenario, the business is struggling with internet speeds, so they pay more money to increase speeds with their Internet Service Provider. That should work, right? Wrong — if the IT provider makes no changes to the infrastructure before this hasty decision is made, then the issue will still persist even after spending all of that money.  Re-engineering the system instead would have made changes to the infrastructure, identified potential bottlenecks, and engineered the network to better utilize the bandwidth.

Alltek Services Won’t “Drag And Drop” Your IT — We Re-Engineer To Solve Problems

If your IT provider takes a reactive approach and does not provide recommendations on actually improving the way your business operates, then they are doing you a disservice. It may be that they are the cheapest option around and value quantity over quality. Maybe you are working with a cousin’s uncle’s friend who may not have the expertise, or maybe you are paying an arm and a leg and still not getting the level of attention you need.

Either way, if you have a support provider that prefers drag and drop versus re-engineering, it’s time to start looking elsewhere. If you want to hear more about our re-engineering approach, here’s how:

1. Get in touch with my team and arrange a free consultation at a time that works for you.
2. Explain the IT problem you have that needs to be solved.
3. Let us walk you through a re-engineered solution.
4. Decide between our option and a “drag and drop” alternative.