by Scott Jack
Content Contributor, E-N Computers
7+ years experience in healthcare IT and tech support.
So your IT manager just submitted his resignation. For the last few years, he has been responsible for providing support, monitoring the health of your network, keeping everything updated and secure, and planning IT projects to support your growth plans. In fact, he’s probably the only one that fully understands the inner workings and peculiarities of your computer systems. The business could be hamstrung without his knowledge and skills. What will you do?
Fundamentally, you need an IT transition plan that retains knowledge of your systems and guarantees you have skilled staff available to keep your systems secure, accessible, and supported. With just two weeks of notice, this can be challenging to achieve through a typical hiring process.
When you factor in advertising the position, sorting through applications, scheduling interviews, performing background checks, and writing offer letters, you are left with precious little time to onboard a new employee before your current one departs. And if the candidate is employed elsewhere, you may have no time at all. However, with some help, your IT transition can be smooth and low-pressure.
The experienced team at E-N Computers has helped many businesses to make a smooth transition. Our onboarding process and managed IT services address the key components of a successful transition, including:
- documenting everything
- handling support requests
- searching for a replacement IT professional
- removing the former IT Manager’s access
In this article, we will look at what is involved in each step. We will also consider how E-N Computers can turn a daunting transition into a delightful one. Let’s begin by talking about documentation.
QUICK ANSWER:
What should I do when my IT manager resigns?
Begin the transition process by documenting everything, giving your users a place to go for support, and hiring a new employee. A managed IT service provider can help you handle the transition smoothly and easily.
Step 1: Document Everything
Documentation is an excellent way of passing information from one person to the next. Without it, your current IT manager’s knowledge would be completely lost, leaving the new person scrambling to rediscover the particulars of your computer network. Unfortunately, many solo IT professionals are inundated with tasks that demand their immediate attention such as walk-up support requests and fixing things as they break. They generally have very little time for properly documenting every aspect of your systems. In such a case, documentation during the transition is absolutely critical to your new employee and your business.
What sort of information should you document? It’s useful to include procedures, passwords, and system configurations. For example, how is your network designed? A diagram of your network topology, its physical and logical structure, can make it easier to diagnose problems. What accounts, services, and hardware does IT manage, and what are the login details? A list of administrator and background service accounts will help you maintain full access and functionality of your hardware and software. Do you have backups? A description of your backup and data recovery setup should include what is backed up, how often, and where so that it can be monitored and tested. Who are your IT vendors and do you have any standing contracts with them? Record their contact details and any service level agreements so that you can quickly get the support you need.
Thorough documentation of your computer systems in just two weeks can seem overwhelming. But when you start a relationship with E-N Computers, we take care of this step for you. Right at the beginning of the onboarding process, our experienced team gathers all the information we will need to provide you with comprehensive support. With our help, you can rest assured that your IT knowledge is safe and that business operations will not be hindered.
Get the IT Manager Transition Checklist
Planning an IT manager transition can seem overwhelming. This checklist will help you make sure you ask the right questions and get the right help before your current employee departs.
Need the checklist for later? Enter your email address (totally optional!) and we’ll send you a link so you can download it later or share it with your team.
Step 2: Handle support Requests
Your team will still need IT support during the transition period and once your current IT Manager is gone. As he makes preparations for his departure, though, support is more likely to have a lower priority. Then, without an immediate replacement, the rest of your staff may run into problems that hamper productivity. How can you make sure your team remains supported and productive during this time?
Signing a service contract with ENC gives you access to high-quality IT support. As soon as the contract is signed, our local help desk can begin answering questions and solving everyday IT problems for your employees.
In just two weeks, we can be fully operational, with the ability to monitor and manage your systems remotely. Without skipping a beat, we can provide total support for your staff and infrastructure.
Step 3: Find a Replacement
Knowledge transfer and continuous support are two major concerns that lead to a rushed search for a replacement. Our managed IT services alleviate that pressure, giving you flexibility to wait for the right candidate. You might even find it advantageous to look for a different kind of candidate. Either way, we are able to help you search for a replacement.
How will you choose the right person? Many small to medium businesses look for a jack-of-all-trades—one person to do everything. Someone who understands your business and responds quickly can be a valuable asset. However, today’s greater regulatory burdens and cybersecurity risks mean your on-site IT staff will still need a team of specialists to back them up.
Because of the modern IT landscape, many professionals are seeking to specialize as a way to advance their career and provide more value to companies. Working with ENC gives you freedom to hire a specialist that can provide your organization with a competitive advantage. While we take care of your infrastructure and daily support requests, they are free to focus on a specialty of your choice—business analytics, database administration, or something else entirely.
Whether you decide to look for a generalist or someone more specialized, ENC can help you find the best candidate for your company. We have over twenty years of experiencing hiring for a variety of IT roles. We know how to identify business needs, attract the right talent, and effectively screen candidates. We invite you to use our hiring expertise to your benefit.
Step 4: Remove Access
Once your current IT Manager leaves, it is important to remove his access to your systems. This protects your network against unauthorized use and prevents old accounts from being used as an attack vector. Since IT administrator accounts are usually spread across many services and pieces of equipment, it’s important to be thorough in disabling them. At the same time, you don’t want to break anything that depends on a particular account being active.
Here, too, ENC is ready and able to assist. With the documentation we prepared during onboarding, along with our familiarity of a wide range of technologies, we can comb through your systems to make sure your old employee no longer has access and that there are no hidden accounts lurking.
With ENC at your side throughout the transition process, you can have peace of mind that your IT employee’s departure will not be an undue hardship on your business. We will be pleased to assist you with documentation, support, candidate selection, and securing your systems.
NEXT STEPS: Learn More About IT Hiring
READ: How to Hire an IT Professional
READ: Co-managed services: Your IT team’s secret weapon
READ: Should I outsource my IT department? (with calculator)
Would you like to learn more about your choices in hiring a replacement for your IT position? We invite you to look at the resources provided below.
First, take a look at How to Hire an IT Professional. The article will help you to evaluate what you need in an IT person, considers some common IT titles and their responsibilities, challenges of IT hiring, and ways to improve the process.
Then, we suggest reviewing Co-managed services: Your IT team’s secret weapon. It lays out how a partnership between on-site IT staff and an MSP can improve IT outcomes for your business and contribute to greater job satisfaction for your on-site personnel.
Lastly, Should I outsource my IT department? and its companion video (below) considers the how to build a functional internal IT department as well as differences between IT service providers.
If you just received a letter of resignation from your IT person, please request a quote today. With ENC, you can enjoy the peace of mind of having an entire IT team behind you during your transition and well into the future.
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You’ll get personalized action items that you can use to make improvements right away. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to book a FREE IT strategy session to get even more insights into your IT needs.
