Executives Appreciate it when IT Professionals Communicate Effectively

by | Feb/24/2020

Today, an IT Guru called to gather more information as he prepared to meet with his executives. His methodology was impressive, and executives might want to forward this to your IT professionals. IT professionals want to do a great job of communicating with executives and they welcome guidance for communication.
A while ago, the executives approved IT configuring the firewall to block gambling, job search, and some other website categories from workers. As usual, the workers pushed back.

The executives asked the IT team to meet with them. What stands out is how the VP of IT prepared before the meeting. First, he organized a list of pros and cons for the executives before the meeting. He listed substantial risks from unauthorized websites, including security risks, ransomware, credential harvesting from fake login screens, and more. He examined mobile phone records and was able to demonstrate that since they had 1000 mobile devices, and using a total of 25 Gigs of data, they could save 50 per year per device. That adds up to save fifty thousand dollars each year. He wasn’t advocating blocking, or not to block, the content. He provided the executives with accurate numbers so they can decide.

He pulled service tickets and showed the time expense of blocking, and converted that to a numerical figure of how much money they could save by continuing blocking. He also pulled specific websites that users submitted to have unlocked. That way, the executives could choose what to open up. He printed sixty category choices to review with the decision-makers if they want. Rather than merely stating that blocking unauthorized music and media websites will speed up Internet connectivity, the executives benefit more when IT pulls logging information and provide specific numbers such as 80% of the traffic is unapproved. He offered alternatives to add safety even without blocking, including virtual browsers, to host the user’s browsing experience in the cloud and keep the traffic entirely off of their computers.

The way he finished the conversation with me was beautiful. He said that he wanted to give the executives the right information so they can make an informed decision. Please forward this to your friends in case they want to share the example with their IT professionals too.