Small, Virtual Sysadmin Services?

treesim asks: "I work for a tiny research company of five employees, with a growing need for a system administrator. However, our needs are unlikely to ever require a full time person, so I'm wondering if small, offsite sysadmin services exist (something like virtual assistants, since the larger corporate-sized outfits are just too much). On one hand, this seems an obvious niche to be filled by entrepreneurial moonlighters, but there are a ton of questions regarding trust. Nonetheless, we already have good relationships with offsite bookkeeping and payroll services. Am I just being naive, or does anyone have experience with outsourcing small-scale sysadmin tasks?"

Comments

Have you considered...

[Eightyford]

Have you considered sending one of the five employees to a community college for some classes? Maybe a part time highschool or college student would fit the part too. You could hand him some mindless tasks when nothing else needs to be done.

Re:Have you considered...

[MikeFM]

Or just someone to the college to hire a college kid to do the job. At that age I was already very experienced and would do part-time admin work for about $12/hr - probably a third of what I'd consider doing it for now. Shouldn't be hard to find someone. Ask on your local Linux users group mailing list.

It can be done, but trust is key

[prescor]

Speaking as someone who IS a some-time sysadmin for several clients, I can say that trust is paramount. The places of which I speak are generally self-sufficient on a day-to-day basis, but need advice or someone to "just do it" when a major upgrade needs to take place and no "regular" staff can be spared for the task (assuming their knowledgeable.) I do work for doctors, lawyers, and one print shop (to which I even have a key!). These are all people I have known for years, however, in a rural setting. I would think that references should be a MUST given what you are likely to need such a person to do.

It is possible...

[Alpha27]

Now you do mention virtual sysadmin, but I will guess you don't mean someoone who is completely remote, they might be a need for them to come in and do some manual stuff like setting up the physical network, printer stuff, etc. I previously worked at a company of 20 employees where we do outsource our tech support. The person would come in 2 times a week for an hour or two, and we would schedule work for them. Fix a computer, install software drivers, update the OS, that kind of work mainly. The problem we faced was the quality of the workers, and the response times. We used one company who had a pool of tech support, and some of the guys they sent us were a hit or miss. Those who sucked we never saw again. As for timeframe, we had one incident where we had to wait a few weeks to get a laptop problem resolved. The good thing was we were provided with a temp laptop in the meantime. Some of delays are to be expected since it is a virtual staff. Arrival times, and scheduling them between work hours or at least when a company employee is present is difficult at times.

How about sharing?

[failedlogic]

Here's a different idea:

If you're in a small office tower, consider pooling the resources together of everyone in the building or street. Maybe you need someone 2 hours a week, the office down the hall (or street) needs someone one day of the week, etc. There might be a skilled self-employed computer tech in your area who doesn't want to travel much. Check around.

You might find that in pooling all your resources together, you can find one or two techs you trust to do all the administrative tasks. You should get a better quality person in the end since they're virtually 'guaranteed' the hours to fullfill the tasks in the area. And it should eliminiate the chance you get a different person each time.

trust is a two way street

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to add that as much as you need to trust, you also have to cultivate trust from you occasional sysadmin. Pay them promptly without having to be asked more than once please.

I tried the solo-operator tech to small business and I absolutley hated hounding companies (referred from people I know and trust no less) so that I could pay my rent.

Also, listen when your hired tech tells you that what you want can be done, but will take anywhere from x to y number of hours, they're not kidding!

Oh and one last thing... if you change your mind, you don't get the first 4 hours work free.

ok, I'm done

Hoh boy...

[benjamindees]

Here are some tips:

1) Be prepared to sign an agreement for monthly support, and pay it regularly. Nothing makes contractors happier than knowing what to expect. And nothing makes them angrier than not getting paid.

2) Be up-front about your needs. Don't try to hire someone for a few months and have them teach you everything they know. These people exist, but they bill at $150/hr and won't be worth your while. Micromanagement behaviour, especially from small businesses who claim they need outside services, sets off alarm bells for contractors. If they don't trust you, you won't trust them.

3) Be extremely clear with each other about what type of support is expected. Full service, I-have-the-root-password-and-nobody-installs-anyth ing support is easier and cheaper for everyone. If you want to be able to fuck around on your systems, and expect hand-holding, be prepared to pay extra or find a third-rate service that will put up with that.

4) Pooling resources is also extremely beneficial. If you can find a few other small businesses in need of support, the odds of finding and retaining high quality help will increase.

5) And, most importantly, computer support is about more than just fixing mice and installing updates. Especially for small businesses, outsourcing IT means reaping the benefits of more efficient processes than you otherwise would be able to accomplish. Take advantage of those benefits.