This question has been asked for years, I give you the I.T./I.S. Departments trying to explain why the company needs the latest tech. It always goes over the heads of the uninformed (The Management) with the attitude “If it isn’t broke don’t fix it”, they do not understand why you need to upgrade to stay current and the only way to accomplish this is to constantly invest into the department (Not just a One Time Payment).
It always happens that a “Friend” who knows “something” (Usually Not correct) always outranks individuals who did the time to invest themselves with the current knowledgebase and skill-sets to clearly give the right answer, until the predictable happens and the “Friend” has no answer do the management ask the professionals when can it be fixed (usually yesterday). Or most likely the Management tries to save face in order not to admit they were wrong and critical events do or don’t happen as a result!
If somebody is in charge of skilled individuals then they should be fully qualified in that area, not know just a little bit (or most likely a friend who overheard something). This also works in outside of companies in all life; examples would include Volunteer Positions (i.e. Cooperatives), Governments, Military and other such organizations.
This Day and Age our organizations need to be represented in a lot of ways (Web Sites, Emails, Social Media, ect.), not just in the phonebook. Skilled people in the IT/IS field know this and understand the continuation of this practice (Updates, Web Site Upgrades, Email Anti-Virus Upgrades, Camera Installs, Integration of Systems, Security, Ect.).
When an Organization refuses to see the truth and the Management just wants to Stick their Heads into the Dirt then that Organization if Doomed to exist in the near future and to be taken over by their competition (who saw the light and re-invested into the demands of the skilled people).
I personally know One Person companies (formally known as trunk slammers) that are getting more tasks/jobs done due to their Web Presence over the Big Organizations who are in the Stone Age with too much overhead. I also know Volunteer Organizations who have too much Unskilled Leadership pulling the strings of the Organization causing that same Organization to still be in the Stone Age (No Web Presence, No Security Cameras, Etc.).
What should happen is the current management should be removed from position of authority, replaced and a investigation should take place to see if the same individuals can be re-educated to allow the skilled people to conduct what is needed before the costs exceed recommended expenses. If the current management cannot be re-educated then they should step down and allow qualified skilled people to replace them. This is on the demands of the owners of the Organizations, not the management…
