Most small to midsized business have an IT guy. He or she may be called an IT manager, system administrator, IT director, or a similar title. In reality, this IT person does everything related to information technology and sometimes anything that plugs into an electrical outlet.
As you can guess from the title of this blog, the pay scale ranges from about $50,000 to $90,000 per year. The price you pay is often based on experience, certifications, how well the person interviews, and how well he or she negotiates. Obviously, the pay scale varies greatly. Unfortunately, the duties and skill set required is the same no matter how much you pay. 
At the typical SMB, the IT guy is responsible for everything. Changing printer toner. Helping users print documents. Setting up new computers. Buying equipment. Training other employees. Setting up new users. If you are paying a person a salary at the low end of the range this might be reasonable. On the other hand, your $90k guy is overpaid. Clearly, not the best use of your money. Equally important, the expensive guy will get bored and leave.
The other aspect of an IT guy’s job is more vital to the overall health and growth potential of the business. In most companies, he is the person driving technological advances. He is evaluating new technology. He is looking at trends. He is helping determine what technology change will make you more competitive and more profitable. His evaluations help make your network better. If this strategic planning is left to the $50k guy, you may have some weaknesses in this area. The good news, if you have a $90k guy, is that he is better positioned to help. When he is not changing toner.
Sadly, I have been on network deployments where we were setting up disaster recovery systems with multiple vendors only to watch the IT guy get called away to go change a toner cartridge. Needless to say, this is not ideal. It slows down the project and wastes a great deal of money.
How do we solve this dilemma? You can augment your IT staff. Bringing in a lower level tech to assist an in-house IT guy can go a long way. Spending a little bit of money to free up his time can be very valuable. This frees up your $90k salary investment to focus on advancing your business.
If you have a $50k guy, bringing in a more experienced technician can really help advance your business by implementing a sound technology strategy. The typical $50k IT guy does not have the experience to help grow the business. He also does not have a full understanding of the IT industry and the potential solutions that would drive your business forward. Although a person at this level seems like an IT genius, in reality they are rather limited in their ability to help you grow strategically.
No matter how experienced your technician and no matter how experienced he is, there is one major limitation. Unless your IT guy is moonlighting, he has only seen one network for years he has been working for you. An outside consultant sees many networks a month and brings insight your own personnel simply cannot provide. The right IT consultant can tell you where can provide you with an unbiased assessment of the current-state of your technology as compared to market offerings, tell you where you stand, what others are doing well, and what does not work. and help you identify and assess new offerings and opportunities which are right for your business and can help you move your business forward in ways you may may not have even imagined.
Leave a Reply