Now is the time of year many people make New Year’s Resolutions.
For IT managers, it’s a good opportunity to resolve to do things differently without spending money — be more patient with staff, don’t say “no” so fast, listen to ideas of younger team members who may be familiar with new approaches.
Here’s another one which is suggested by a column this week from Doug Hazelman: Don’t be dazzled by vendors selling leading edge solutions.
“My advice is to keep current but don’t get too bogged down in the hype,” he writes. “You have a job to do, and that’s most likely making sure your data center serves the needs of your business. New technologies will eventually work their way in, but first they’ll need to gain some justifiable, field-proven credibility. And that usually comes a few years after all the pundits have told you what you’ll be doing next year.
It can be difficult for some managers: There’s a bit of pride in being leading edge. The opposite is also true, as a case study I wrote this year of an hospital that hadn’t kept up to date with its technology and was badly caught when the power failed.
Still, there’s a balancing act IT managers have to make between taking advantage of new technology that promises efficiencies and waiting for that technology to be proven for investing in.
Hazelman makes a good point: Make sure the bleeding edge technology you invest in doesn’t bleed your organization.