There seems to be more people out there who know a lot about technology but don't know jack about running a business. There is less people out there - who can convince the management (and rightly so) that spending $$$ pays off in the long run. Can you put a $$$ on the missing files because you didn't have a the proper backup strategy in place ? down time of the servers and the amounts of people who are sitting around and looking at the ceiling because their email and phone system are not working ? $$$ it would cost to recreate the work of a team which spent 3 months on it ? )
People in a company like that - cannot just create a "Committee" to see that changes happen - it just doesn't work - policies like that need to come down from the top. It only shows that either the people who are the heads of such departments are not speaking the right language to the top or are just plain LAZY (Incompetent, inefficient...etc)- or the top (lower top) is refusing to listen - because they want to look like they are doing a good job by keeping the costs down - I've seen both. In either case - you need to start from the bottom and work your way up. Approach the IT Manager, and present him with your findings, ask him to take it up - if no result - take it a step over him - As a last resort approach your CTO/CIO or (CEO if you have to) with realistic numbers on the amounts of time lost due to server outages - multiply it by the number of employees affected and then by their hourly wage - $$ starts to add up...especially if you have ridiculous downtime rates... But I bet you - somewhere along your trip UP someone will start to listen. But get the numbers first...and get some "weight" behind you - get managers and directors of other departments to back you up on this...Even have them present this UP to the VP's.. etc.
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There seems to be more people out there who know a lot about technology but don't know jack about running a business. There is less people out there - who can convince the management (and rightly so) that spending $$$ pays off in the long run. Can you put a $$$ on the missing files because you didn't have a the proper backup strategy in place ? down time of the servers and the amounts of people who are sitting around and looking at the ceiling because their email and phone system are not working ? $$$ it would cost to recreate the work of a team which spent 3 months on it ? ) People in a company like that - cannot just create a "Committee" to see that changes happen - it just doesn't work - policies like that need to come down from the top. It only shows that either the people who are the heads of such departments are not speaking the right language to the top or are just plain LAZY (Incompetent, inefficient ...etc)- or the top (lower top) is refusing to listen - because they want to look like they are doing a good job by keeping the costs down - I've seen both. In either case - you need to start from the bottom and work your way up. Approach the IT Manager, and present him with your findings, ask him to take it up - if no result - take it a step over him - As a last resort approach your CTO/CIO or (CEO if you have to) with realistic numbers on the amounts of time lost due to server outages - multiply it by the number of employees affected and then by their hourly wage - $$ starts to add up...especially if you have ridiculous downtime rates... But I bet you - somewhere along your trip UP someone will start to listen. But get the numbers first...and get some "weight" behind you - get managers and directors of other departments to back you up on this...Even have them present this UP to the VP's.. etc.