One way to cope with increasingly difficult IT

If you work in an IT department you may have never been busier. If you don't - perhaps you're one of the suits that has to keep on signing the cheques or maybe an end user of technology - that might seem odd. After all, isn't all this technology supposed to be making life easier?

When we individually start to use PDAs or wireless LANs or computers at home for work, we tend to think of the convenience factor. Yet the truth is that managing and maintaining easily losable devices that synchronise to corporate data - allowing that data to walk out of the office every night - is a headache. Backing up of such devices isn't at the forefront of end users' minds.

The same goes for wireless LANs that have been set up insecurely by 'office mavericks' or home connections that link into corporate networks without the use of VPNs. These are all common scenarios nowadays.

So what to do? Another piece of research out today is instructive. As with most jobs, communicating well with other parts of the business is essential. Trouble is, IT professionals have too often been bad at that.

The latest research from consultancy Unilog suggests getting a sponsor on board from another department for each new project. This isn't as bizarre as it sounds. It's common practice in many circles. Think how much more a head of sales will co-operate when she realises what's to gain in getting an implementation right - and how she'll share the blame if it goes wrong. No more IT lackey.

IT isn't getting any easier. But there are ways of making the job manageable.