Is an IT Department Necessary Even for a Company of 10 Employees!?
Is an IT staff member necessary for a company with 10 employees?
Hiring one full-time person.
I think this is unrealistic for many companies.
However,
"Not being able to hire a full-time person does not mean there is no IT work."
That is not the case.
In fact, the smaller the company, the more someone is doing everything behind the scenes.
IT tasks that someone is doing
An employee joins the company.
Buy a PC.
Perform initial setup.
Create an email address.
Create a Microsoft 365 account.
Grant access to necessary folders.
An employee leaves the company.
Deactivate the account.
Decide what to do with the email.
Transfer the data.
Reset the PC.
Furthermore,
"I can't connect to Wi-Fi."
"Excel won't open."
"I received a suspicious email."
"I forgot my password."
These issues also occur.
Even if there is no IT department, IT work exists.
The problem is that "it hasn't been decided who will do it."
A common scenario in small companies is:
"Mr./Ms. XX who is good with PCs"
does everything.
At first, you can manage without one.
But things will grind to a halt once that person gets busy.
It becomes even more problematic when that person resigns.
Only they know the configuration settings, administrator passwords, and contract details.
This is the scariest part.
You can build IT functions without having a dedicated IT staff member.
I don't think you need to hire a full-time person for a 10-person company.
But at the very least,
・Who makes the decisions
・What needs to be managed
・What to do during onboarding and offboarding
・Who to ask when you're in trouble
are things you should decide on.
It's fine for an internal employee to handle this as a secondary role.
It's also fine to outsource some parts.
What's important is not the "name of the department in charge,"
but creating a system where "necessary tasks don't fall through the cracks."
That is what you need to build.
Waiting until the company grows to set up IT is too late.
As the number of employees grows from 10 to 20, then 30, the number of accounts, PCs, and permissions will increase all at once.
Rules that were vague when you had 10 people will become quite troublesome when you have 30.
That's why, while you're still small,
you should "manage everything perfectly."
It is not necessary.
At the very least,
Know which PC is used by whom.
Know who has which account.
Have a procedure for when someone leaves.
Ensure administrator information is not dependent on a single individual.
Decide at least these things.
Rather than deciding whether to hire an IT person, first make the "IT work" visible.
In a small company, I think starting there is enough.
Before hiring a dedicated IT staff member, there is also the option of outsourcing only the necessary IT functions. If you have "IT that no one is assigned to manage," such as PCs, accounts, Microsoft 365, or security, please consult with AZWork.