Top 12 Tools IT Pros Need In Their Arsenal

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Tools IT Professionals Need to Succeed

We know what you’re going through

Business owners sometimes mistakenly believe that their IT teams are there primarily to fix computers when they’re running slow, but we — and you — know your value to the organization transcends rebooting desktops. You’re responsible for engineering the company’s technology infrastructure, reconfiguring its functionality to cater to the company’s specific needs, and creating governance regulations for how employees engage with the networks and their components. 

The CEO may have erected the brick and mortar, but you’re the one who’s spun the cybernetic web that keeps the company’s systems secure. 

To help you thrive in your IT role, we’ve compiled a list of skills that you’ll want to have in your bat belt (no shark repellent needed):

The whole belt or just a few tools…

If you want to take the super-hero IT wizard route, add some or all of these skills to your workforce by partnering with us. We have been supporting internal IT teams for over 13 years. 

While we typically furnish clients with a comprehensive menu of combined services, we’re also one of the few IT consulting and managed IT providers who offer our services à la carte. Give us a call. We’ll work together to create a program that works for you and your CEO.

Want to go it alone? Read on to learn the 12 tools you need to succeed.

12 Tools For Your IT Utility Belt

  • Network Design: Network design is the planning and implementation of a computer’s network infrastructure. This infrastructure is both physical (cables, routers, etc.) and digital (security architecture, IP address structure). The network design drafts a logical map of the network you’re devising for your company’s premises. That means building a diagram of the cabling structure; the quantity, type, and location of network devices; the IP addressing structure; and overall network security processes and architecture. 
  • Licensing and Tenant Management: As employees come and go, you’re constantly adding and removing users from your tech stack. Seats in tools are costly. And if a user has access to tools they don’t use, your company is wasting money. Culling user access to what’s absolutely necessary will keep your company from paying for more than it’s actually using. Learn tenant management, and you’ll be the profit hero of the day.
  • Hardware & Software Consulting, Sales, Migration, and Implementation: From time immemorial, tools have made life easier. If your load has gotten heavier, or inefficiencies are cropping up in your operations, it’s time to look into new, up-to-the-minute tools. Consulting with third-party developers — like Gulf South Technology Solutions — can help you determine which ones you require.While new tools modernize industries and boost efficiency, they are costly when they slow down workflow. It’s important to research, test and prove functionality.The tricky part comes when migrating your existing tech stack. Your internal IT team may be cognizant of new tools and needed upgrades, but simply don’t have the time to install them. Migrating tools needs to be done seamlessly in order to make sure not to disrupt uptime. Give us a call — we can optimize and upgrade your system while you maintain consistent daily operations.
  • Inventory and Asset Management: As your tech stack grows, you must keep tabs on the assets in your technology inventory —their costs, how they interact, how they perform — to keep workflow more efficient, translating into higher ROI.Ideally, you should organize all IT assets in functionality buckets for easy access, and run analytics regularly to obtain data on asset life cycle, cost, maintenance, and location. “Systematizing” your system is invaluable in helping you make decisions on discontinuing and/or upgrading of products.{{cta(‘176efab0-17e2-47fa-b488-bd8d94a44501’)}}
  • Break/Fix – “Feet on the Street”: If your IT team works remotely, your firm may be hiring break/fix services each time there’s an issue that can’t be handled from afar.Break/fix services like those offered by Gulf South Technology Solutions are indispensable for firms that need external IT resources. All you need to do to put out that fire is to give us a call.
  • Software Development: Whether it’s out-of-the-box CSS hacking or API integrations between disparate software, most businesses require a customized cocktail of software functionalities, so — although it’s technically the area of software engineers — custom development is frequently assigned to the IT team, especially at smaller firms.But many high-performing IT professionals aren’t equipped to write custom code at a moment’s notice. Consider partnering with a third party like Gulf South Technology Solutions to handle these sporadic needs so you can concentrate on optimizing your technology stack.
  • Hosting Services: Hosting services are back-end solutions for posting a staged website, web page, application, or any live, public-access files on the internet. Web hosting requires a nuanced understanding of the services that support FTP files, email accounts, website-building tools, and information databases, as well as the ability (and time) to monitor and measure performance to ensure infrastructure is fully optimized.While this skill set is often beyond the expertise of an IT professional, it’s a major component of our toolkit. Let us help with that.
  • Cloud Services: Cloud platforms empower businesses to develop and run applications with unbounded scalability and ease of use. These services provide you with user-intuitive scalability and pay-for-use models, all managed by a cloud services provider.
  • Data Backup/Disaster Recovery: If you haven’t implemented a recovery plan into your process you should do so immediately, especially if your company is growing. Research shows that 80% of businesses that have experienced significant data loss go out of business within 12 months. Take that to the boss! But daily tape backups, which can be damaged or become unusable, may not be enough to protect your company’s critical data. We can help devise a solid backup solution based on your company’s needs, budget, and the amount of downtime you can work with.
  • Website DesignIf your small business is growing, as the IT specialist, you’ll probably be asked to participate in the website design process: custom code, animations, and multi-channel QA tests. This is truly a developer’s role, but if you’ve been charged with custom coding your company’s website, we can help you — and you can take all the credit.
  • Consulting: IT consulting can help you develop a clear IT strategy and a roadmap to expertly optimize your company’s technology offering. Consulting can range from a simple conversation to hands-on help. Whatever you need, we can be your partner to help you succeed.
  • Special Projects: You may be asked to tackle a miscellaneous special project that pulls together various aspects of your skill set. You must be able to blend your expertise and problem-solving dexterity to improve operations and stay prepared for growth. Otherwise, you’re just putting out fires. 

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