Transforming Your IT Department from a Roadblock to an Innovation Hub

Many businesses make the mistake of underestimating the capabilities of their IT department. While they recognize the skill of IT services, they often forget that IT is about more than tech support and help desk services. Studies show that 80% of a company's IT department typically focuses on break/fix issues, upgrades, and maintenance, while these tasks only consist of 20% of IT problems. This means that employees are actively missing out on the strategic and impactful work they could be contributing. If you reduce your IT department to just this, you miss out on significant opportunities for innovation and optimization. Instead, IT should serve as an innovation enabler that contributes to strategic initiatives and business success. To help you achieve this, we will discuss how to transform your IT department into an innovation department.

MSPs Lead the Way to Innovation

It can be challenging to find opportunities for innovation from an insider's perspective. Even if you can identify these opportunities, innovation is not a one-off task but requires strategic thought and the implementation of new technology. For this reason, many businesses are looking to managed services providers (MSPs) to reinvent their IT department. MSPs have the experience and resources to revamp your IT department and continue to manage it throughout the life of your business. An MSP is prepared to put in the time and effort to achieve IT innovation while providing you an elevated level of service. They can ease the transition to innovation in four ways:

• Develop a successful strategy.MSPs have the knowledge and experience to help your IT department build and execute a plan for innovation. They will ensure that the IT solutions you deploy will function properly, in addition to driving your overarching business goals. These goals should drive productivity, agility, and efficiency, and with the right tools, this can be achieved. With an MSP, you can deploy a strategy while saving time and money, in addition to solving issues before they affect your service.
• Prioritize resources. Capable IT technology is expensive, especially if you are looking to take it one step further into innovation. Fortunately, MSPs are an extremely cost-effective option as they are already equipped with the resources and tools your organization needs. Additionally, they have the experience to prioritize these resources as needed, ensuring that the day-to-day issues are managed while further problems are prevented. With these aspects of IT handled, your internal department has more time to lead innovation efforts.
• Technology-enableddecision-making.A significant aspect of an MSP's job is to ensure optimal performance of your IT infrastructure that leads to productivity gains. The more usable that your technology is, the more improved that user adoption is. This means that users can rely on technology to support their work and simplify the decision-making process in many cases. With optimized technology comes more accurate and timely data, which leads to better decision-making.
• Pave the way to business success. The more innovative that your IT department grows, the less it will be perceived as a roadblock. Once IT becomes about improved productivity and satisfied users, the less it is seen as a mere break/fix solution. With this mindset, IT is rebranded as a center of innovation and a significant contributor to business success. With innovative IT, every other department in your organization will feel the effects of its optimization and innovation. Additionally, keeping up to date on IT trends is a massive step towards remaining innovative and competitive. Fortunately, MSPs are aware of these trends and will help your organization determine feasible opportunities for your company to take advantage of.

Innovation Myths 

While MSPs are expert innovators, there are still many misconceptions about what innovation means, especially concerning IT. Many businesses believe that implementing new technology is all it takes to achieve innovation, but there's a lot more to it than that. For MSPs to lead companies into true innovation, they must first help them overcome common myths about innovation.

1. Innovation is random. Many professionals believe that companies fall into innovation with dumb luck. In reality, innovation requires strategic thought and planning. From the moment you decide to innovate your IT department, you must follow a strategic plan and review and assess it regularly. For innovation to align with your business goals, it must be carefully deployed and maintained. Hand-in-hand with this misconception is the idea that only creative geniuses can find innovation. While creativity is beneficial, you can still deliver high-impact innovation without a creatively inclined mind. In reality, experience and strategic thought can go a long way.

2. Superior technology guarantees innovation. Many professionals get stuck on the idea that advanced technology is the only key to innovation. While technology plays a significant role in innovation, it is far from the only thing that matters. In reality, using quality technology in tandem with excellent customer service and efficient business processes is much more important than using the “best” technology. For an MSP, their strategies and soft skills should be inclined towards innovation in addition to their technical tools.

3. Innovation must be big. Often when we think of innovation, we think of brand-new inventions that drastically change the world. While this happens in some cases, most innovation is done in small steps. Just because your organization adopts every piece of state-of-the-art technology does not mean you will find innovation. Instead, consider how the technology and processes you adopt can make small changes that have a big impact on your company. MSPs can help you to identify these opportunities and innovate your IT department without entirely reinventing it.

The world of IT has seen drastic changes over the past few years, but there is still room to grow. The first step of achieving IT innovation is to change your mindset of IT. Instead of viewing it as a mere means of solving issues and providing tech support, recognize the opportunity for growth and impact that your IT department can offer. Utilizing an MSP is an excellent method to transforming your IT department. The right MSP will help your organization develop a robust strategy for innovation and help you implement it. With the right strategy and tools, IT innovation is within reach and will lead your business to enhanced growth and success.