I would like to share a story with you that encompass what we all encounter today, whether it is computer maintenance related or not.  I am going to provide you the moral of the story up front and that is, stick to what you do best and do not get too far out of your box or it may cripple your business.  What a way to start this story.

One of the telecommunication industry juggernauts employed a friend of mine.  One day, the multi-function copier had failed and was not doing what multi-function copiers do and that is mass produce documents through printing or copying.  This device was an important component of the workflow process for a team of professionals and without it; the team was crippled to provide support for their customers.  Here is the story as she told me.

An adventurous employee on the team felt that he could save the day and fix the multi-function copier.  There are plenty of user actions that can remedy copier errors today.  You open a door here, open a door there, pull out a paper misfeed and you are back in business.  That wasn’t quite the case in this story.

After a couple hours, the eager employee gave up and requested that the copier repair company be contacted to remedy the copier malfunction.  Shortly thereafter, the copier technician arrived in a vividly colored suit and tie.  He donned his overalls after speaking with the receptionist and headed to the copier in question.

Several hours later, the copier technician reappeared at the front desk, covered head to toe with multi-color toner looking like a new species from the movie Predator and asked, “May I speak with the individual who was working on the copier please?”  The receptionist, clearly seeing that a battle took place in the copier room, attempted to protect the team member who tried to help and said, “What do you mean, sir?”  “The copier wasn’t working, so we contacted your office to fix it.”  The copier technician further stated, “I’m not asking if anyone worked on the copier; rather, I am asking to speak with the person who worked on the copier.”  The receptionist put her head down and further paged the team member who took a stab at fixing it.  The copier technician walked over to the eager, untrained technician, shook his hand in an attempt to let him share in the colorful fun and said, “Your copier is fixed.”  He further said, “May I make a suggestion to you?”  The team member frowned and said, “of course.”  The copier technician said, “I don’t work on telephone systems - don’t you work on copiers.”  The copier technician picked up his tools and a multitude of empty boxes, walked out the door and headed to his vehicle.

I really love this story as it plays a part in everyday life, including your technology network.  We tend to think we can perform the IT services or delete what we think is the problem file or worse, search the Internet and find a similar thread and apply that fix only to find out the remedy you thought would fix the issue really had no applicability to the issue at hand.  Technology is not getting easier.  It is becoming more difficult and one miscue exposes your network, brings it down to an inoperable state or worse, exposes your client’s information.

When I need legal advice, I seek an attorney.  When I need medical advice, I seek a doctor.  When you need managed IT services or computer IT services, you need to seek Ion Technology Group, your trusted partner in business technology.

Are you feeling like something is not quite right with your technology, but you cannot put your finger on the issue?  Please contact an Ion Technology Group expert at 1.856.719.1818 and tell us what is happening and we will lend you a hand.

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