Agreed. An IT department should not have its own goals. It should have its own budget.
Whether it should exist or not depends on these factors:
1. Is it cost-effective? If specialized IT personnel can solve the majority of computer issues that you have at your company for less cost than other options, it's cost effective. Engineers are high-dollar professionals, so the cost of using them to solve routine computer problems may be more than the cost of employing IT staff.
2. Will it provide services your current situation can't provide?
3. Will it tend to create its own justifications for existence, become a burden to computer users or try to expand its scope beyond what the company needs, or otherwise become inefficient over time?
The answer to 1 and 2 is often yes. Unfortunately, the answer to 3 is usually yes as well.
When you buy hardware, you get the right to use that hardware in any way that doesn't violate the law. That includes loading a new operating system on it, if it's capable. They should be required to provide you with a procedure to unlock any protections you want to unlock so that you have full access to the hardware.
When you buy a smart phone it should also include an implied right that the service provider's system won't be changed in such a way that your phone will become incompatible with the system for some time -- at least your contract term.
But it doesn't include the right to eternal support or any guarantee that the company will help you upgrade it.
It's nonsense to say that every European purchaser understands European consumer protection laws.
And it is absolutely right to find that if Apple sold the extended warranty making a claim that the warranty on hardware was extended by a year, that was false advertising and purchasers are owed a refund for the portion of their extended warranty that is due to the cost of the hardware warranty.
And the Apple on-line service that's included isn't worth much. You can get pretty good free support on-line.
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Agreed. An IT department should not have its own goals. It should have its own budget. Whether it should exist or not depends on these factors: 1. Is it cost-effective? If specialized IT personnel can solve the majority of computer issues that you have at your company for less cost than other options, it's cost effective. Engineers are high-dollar professionals, so the cost of using them to solve routine computer problems may be more than the cost of employing IT staff. 2. Will it provide services your current situation can't provide? 3. Will it tend to create its own justifications for existence, become a burden to computer users or try to expand its scope beyond what the company needs, or otherwise become inefficient over time? The answer to 1 and 2 is often yes. Unfortunately, the answer to 3 is usually yes as well.
When you buy hardware, you get the right to use that hardware in any way that doesn't violate the law. That includes loading a new operating system on it, if it's capable. They should be required to provide you with a procedure to unlock any protections you want to unlock so that you have full access to the hardware. When you buy a smart phone it should also include an implied right that the service provider's system won't be changed in such a way that your phone will become incompatible with the system for some time -- at least your contract term. But it doesn't include the right to eternal support or any guarantee that the company will help you upgrade it.
It's nonsense to say that every European purchaser understands European consumer protection laws. And it is absolutely right to find that if Apple sold the extended warranty making a claim that the warranty on hardware was extended by a year, that was false advertising and purchasers are owed a refund for the portion of their extended warranty that is due to the cost of the hardware warranty. And the Apple on-line service that's included isn't worth much. You can get pretty good free support on-line.