Peruse I.T. or Lose I.T.

By Phara McLachlan, President, Animus Solutions
Published: April / May 2008

Congratulations! Your start-up business is prospering and growing. In the early days, no one thought twice about the president of the company personally installing the new server or printing the new training manuals. Now it is someone else’s job to do those things while the president has a full schedule managing the business.

Growing from a “get it done” environment to a business with an infrastructure is a tough transition that can derail success. Informal processes fall apart at this point, leading to expensive or distracting issues. As an IT consultant and president of a growing technical consulting company, I have seen numerous problems begin with improperly managed IT. For instance, I know of a software company manager who was laid off when the start-up was acquired. No one thought to ask for his laptop, so he started his new job with excellent competitive information. The intellectual property, competitive data and customer information of the company was jeopardized, and no one knew what was missing. Neither security on the network or careful wording in a contract is going to help prevent this type of unexpected loss.

Have you noticed that software audits hit small companies as often, if not more so, as the large companies? Size is no excuse for having unlicensed software in the environment. Start-ups try to make the work place special with friendly perks. Installing a no-charge espresso machine is a good idea. Allowing staffers to upload their music to the server so all can share is a bad idea. Copyright law applies to music, software, and documentation alike. Corporate policies about who owns the equipment and what is on it have to be enforced to have any merit.

These problems are only a few of the reasons that you should consider managing your hardware and software as a must rather than a “nice to have.” If you don’t, you have forgotten:

• How much money all of that technology has cost. Maximizing use and retention protects the investment.

• Securing an environment requires knowing what type of equipment is accessing the network.

• When pursuing funding, an acquisition, merger or sale of the company, due diligence may require information about the investment in software and hardware.

• Software publishers and their enforcement groups (BSA, SIIA, FAST) routinely audit any size of company to insure proper licensing has occurred. This may be as simple as being assessed the list price and as expensive as being charged fines, as well as the cost of purchases.

• Bad publicity is not a good thing.

For these reasons alone, managing assets requires your attention. Small companies certainly don’t need to go out and buy a system to manage their assets. Consider treating your IT like you would a beloved pedigreed dog:

• Tag it so you can find it.

• Keep the paperwork that proves ownership.

• Don’t buy from just anyone, use trusted sources.

• Make sure everyone knows the rules for working with it.

• Be consistent in following the rules.

By completing these steps in a repeatable and sustainable way, you will have an IT infrastructure that supports your growing company, reduces risk, saves money and demonstrates your business savvy in a practical way.

About the Author
As CEO of Animus Solutions, Phara McLachlan, CITAM, CSAM is committed to delivering practical solutions. Phara’s extensive corporate consulting experiences guide the company’s IT asset management, software asset management, service management and IT security services. McLachlan is a graduate of the University of South Florida and holds industry and software provider certifications.