IT Insights for Operations Leaders
Plain-English answers to the IT questions that come up when you run a manufacturing plant, a trades business, a distribution operation, or a professional firm — plus deeper field notes for the people who keep it all running.
Plain English
No jargon. The business-side read on the IT decisions in front of you.
Your Biggest Customer Is About to Send Security Paperwork
The questionnaire usually arrives with a renewal, a new contract, or a quiet note from purchasing. Answer it badly and you lose the work. Answer it dishonestly and you lose more.
The Office You Bought Once Stops Getting Fixes
Plenty of companies bought Office once to avoid a subscription. For the 2021 version, the security fixes end October 13. The apps keep opening, which is exactly why nobody notices.
Your Email Server Gets Its Last Update in October
If your company email still runs on a server in your building, it gets its final security fix this month. The server is the easy part. The copier, the ERP, and the alerts that send through it are not.
AI Voice Scams Are Now Calling Accounts Payable
The email asks for a wire. Your controller calls to check, and the voice on the line sounds exactly like the owner. That call is the part that has changed.
The Windows 10 Bill Doubles This October
Last October it cost $61 a machine to keep the old computers patched. This October that number doubles, and skipping a year does not save you the money.
What Your Cyber Insurance Renewal Will Actually Ask You
Your broker forwards the renewal questionnaire in August. It used to be one page. This year it is fourteen, and the questions have teeth.
Field Notes
Deeper operational detail for the people running the environment day to day.
Reading Through the "AI" on Your Cybersecurity Stack
The new SOC dashboard had "AI-Detected Anomalies" across the top. We asked the vendor what model was running. Three weeks later: "a tuned rule set."
Shadow AI: What to Do About the AI Use You Can't See
She was sure nobody on the team was using AI for client work. We pulled the browser extension inventory across 38 endpoints. 22 had at least one.
What Happens When You Let AI Click Things
The agent was supposed to update one Salesforce field. Ninety seconds later, 4,200 records had been overwritten. The team had logs. They didn't have a rollback.
A Practical Guide to Safer Software Rollouts
What we've learned about rolling out software updates and new tools without taking finance offline on a Monday morning.
How to Build an IT Playbook That People Actually Use
Most IT documentation rots on the shelf because it's written for an audit, not for a tech at 4:30 on a Friday. Here's what works instead.
On-Prem to Private Cloud: A Manufacturing Read
The honest version of what we tell clients when they ask whether to keep nursing that 2017 PowerEdge along for another cycle or move it into the colo.
SMB Windows Updates: The Cost of Patch Deferral
The CVE was 11 months old by the time the ransomware hit. The patch had been free for 11 months. Applying it would have taken forty minutes.
The Difference Between Reactive IT and Operational IT
Reactive IT closes tickets fast. Operational IT reduces the number of tickets that need to be closed. The difference is structural, not a question of effort.
What Good Endpoint Management Actually Looks Like
They had antivirus on every machine. They were sure of it. Then we ran the first endpoint inventory.