The role of an IT manager can be difficult. Whether it’s helping an employee configure a laptop, addressing potential data breaches, or keeping up to date with developments in artificial intelligence.

Brother surveyed 1,385 IT managers about the biggest IT challenges they face. Some of these challenges will give you sleepless nights, others will put a smile on your face.

Communication problems

From questionable career decisions like buying software that won’t install to using outdated enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions or spreading metaverses for marketing purposes, respondents to Brother’s latest survey faced a variety of challenges .

We asked IT managers to share their worst IT nightmares using concrete examples. One of these problems is the anecdote of a colleague who photographed a handwritten note to send via email. In another annoying incident, an employee responded to a help desk request to simply press the Windows key with “It’s just a sticker – who knew?”

In other situations, the IT department was called in to resolve technical issues because the device was unplugged or turned off. As one participant stated, “Nothing works without electricity.” We understand your frustration.

All joking aside: Communication plays a crucial role for IT managers. Factors such as poor video or internet connection can make it even more difficult to help others. This brings us to the biggest challenges of working from home.

Challenges of working from home for IT managers

With more and more colleagues working from home on a regular basis, IT managers must use all their skills to adapt. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect.

One of the issues that many of you have raised is the feasibility of “bring your own device” in a non-cloud environment. A classic nightmare is that of colleagues who want to use their personal devices but don’t want the company to install management or security software on them. You can’t have both, can you?

With hybrid working on the rise, it’s crucial to provide employees with all the equipment they need to work successfully.

Frank Deneweth

With hybrid working on the rise, it’s crucial to provide employees with all the equipment they need to work successfully. Many IT managers today are looking for a solutions-based approach to support the development of their workforce. Challenges include remote access usage at peak times and the growing threat of cyberattacks. It is necessary to equip remote workers with secure devices.

Cybersecurity and password errors

Cybersecurity is a common issue for IT managers, from the financial threat of phishing attacks to securing hardware like office printers and keeping them online.

Security is a major concern that most of you deal with all the time. However, it can sometimes be a challenge, such as with “passwords”, one of the biggest IT problems in recent years.

• Passwords sent via email – not ideal
• Choose bad passwords that have already been cracked or do not meet the criteria
• Ignoring password updates or mishandling sensitive data
• Request administrative privileges to install unnecessary/non-work related software

These daily annoyances seem fairly normal for IT workers, but respondents are more concerned about the impact and growth of cyberattacks – particularly hacking and ransomware.

For example, the hack of a German district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in which a cyber attack paralyzed the entire IT infrastructure. Others suffered attacks on hospitals and double or even triple extortion from ransomware.

Training staff is critical to cybersecurity as they are the first line of defense in the event of a breach. In the survey, 51% of respondents said their company doesn’t provide security training or doesn’t know about it – it’s an IT nightmare waiting to happen.

In a humorous response, an IT manager explains that “you shouldn’t give credit card information to a stranger on the Internet pretending to be Microsoft.” Yikes!

Brother hardware, services and solutions provide three levels of security for your network, devices and documents.

Real events in 2023

Sometimes it’s not the day-to-day problems but the larger world events that keep IT managers up at night. Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to take control of Twitter (now renamed “X”) has caused quite a stir, as have advances in artificial intelligence (AI). ). The rise of ChatGPT and the implementation of the Grand Language Model (LLM) into digital transformation plans were also mentioned, as were the expanded capabilities of artificial intelligence and the pressure from executives to implement this almost immediately.

The pace at which technologies like AI are evolving can be worrying. There is a real fear of missing out. Every IT decision maker will recognize this. The constant reminder not to fall by the wayside can be annoying for many as it requires strategic planning and proper execution. This can’t happen overnight.

This is a post by Frank Deneweth, Managing Director of Brother Belgium. Click here to learn more about the company’s solutions.