One size fits all? Not when it comes to IT

[GabrielStJohn]

We’ve worked with a select group of Microsoft MVPs to put together a new blog series covering the biggest industry talking points and tribulations. The below article comes straight from MVP and Triad Senior Consultant, Pieter Veenstra. Before you get started, we’d like to extend our gratitude to you, our tech community members, for your ongoing insights. Keep feeding back to our MVPs and keep checking back on our Tech Implementer homepage to stay up to date with the latest news and developments. Over to Pieter.

Unique businesses, unique challenges

Have you ever bought a one-size-fits-all item of clothing? If so, how did it feel when you put it on? I’m guessing that, while it did the job, it didn’t fit you as well as it would have done had it been tailored your size. It’s the same deal with technology.

As a senior member of technology consultancy, Triad, I’ve worked with companies of all shapes and sizes. So I know first-hand how every business is different and how, when it comes to IT, one size rarely fits all. Of course, these differences can help businesses stand out in their markets. But they can also lead to some unique challenges.

One of the biggest challenges I’m seeing in the tech community today is that IT doesn’t always work as expected. When you’re hoping to achieve a business-specific goal, this can be highly frustrating. The good news is, with Microsoft, the process of achieving fixes and adding features is a lot faster and more streamlined than ever before. What’s more, certain tools make it possible to find workarounds to specific challenge.  

No-code, low-code

What does your IT team look like? You might work in a global department, a one-man-band, or something in between. My point is that you might not be able to tackle every single tech challenge with your existing skills and capabilities.

The great news is, the likes of Microsoft Flow, PowerApps and Power BI can be used easily, even if you have limited technical knowledge. With these low-code and no-code tools, you can achieve simple goals in-house. It also makes it really easy to combine forces with consultancies when you need to tackle more complex projects. This kind of set-up means every single business can benefit from Microsoft technology.

Built for 10 or 10,000 employees

Whatever the unique challenges or set-up of your business, it’s likely to feature the same sort of generic functions, including Sales, HR, and Marketing. No matter the nuanced way that these functions operate and coexist, each one of your people can benefit from collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. Whoever they are. Teams is the hub for workplace collaboration, with chat and video functions. While SharePoint lets people find content quickly and work together seamlessly.

Each tech leader is different too. And it is these points of difference that make the power user community so strong because each one of you has something different to bring to the table. So, remember to regularly visit the new, dedicated website for tech implementers and power users like you. It is the ideal place to share your unique knowledge, find the answers to your questions, and learn about fixes to specific problems. No one-size-fits-all in sight.

Thanks for Reading!!