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How Would You Benchmark an IT/IS Department?
ferretworks asks: "Our IS/IT department has been asked by our CEO to find a way to benchmark ourselves against IS/IT departments from other companies with similar technologies (none specific). This sounds like an innocent enough request, but diving into it has made me realize that this is, not necessarily undiscovered country, but a desolate one and rarely visited. So, my poll to the community is: In your Opinion, what is best way to benchmark an IS/IT department and what categories/sub categories would you base your judgment and ratings on?"
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"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
One sure way to kill an IT shop is to have teh Lunix d00dz wasting time whining about how they can't figure out how Microsoft stuff works, and aren't professional enough to learn. They generally do this when they take a break from downloading pirated music or software over some peer-to-peer network.
Make sure the people you hire understand how Active Directory works (or at least understand how to do things in Windows), and know how Group Policies are used. MS certifications are generally a good metric, but there are also good people without certs.
Also, make certifications mandatory. Yes, you run the risk of having people leave, but IMO happy employees don't look for other jobs, so make sure your place is also a good place to work.