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    User to IT ratio

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Discussion
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    • DustinB3403D
      DustinB3403
      last edited by

      4,000:1

      So you don't have hardware techs, software techs, server techs.

      You just have 2 poor souls who drink heavily, and help whenever they get to it. . . .

      J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • J
        Jason Banned @DustinB3403
        last edited by

        @DustinB3403 said in User to IT ratio:

        4,000:1

        So you don't have hardware techs, software techs, server techs.

        We do, we just have a shit ton of users.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • hobbit666H
          hobbit666
          last edited by

          250:1 maybe a bit more.

          coliverC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DustinB3403D
            DustinB3403
            last edited by

            Yeah well I'm sitting at 5 Billion:1

            All the people who aren't in IT are my user base...

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MattSpellerM
              MattSpeller
              last edited by MattSpeller

              ~80:1

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • brianlittlejohnB
                brianlittlejohn
                last edited by

                80:1 here as well

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DustinB3403D
                  DustinB3403
                  last edited by

                  Should I count my co-workers. . . . hrm... how much do they do . . .. .

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                  • coliverC
                    coliver @hobbit666
                    last edited by

                    @hobbit666 said in User to IT ratio:

                    250:1 maybe a bit more.

                    We're probably close to that here.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • pchiodoP
                      pchiodo
                      last edited by

                      Well, we're basically a 24/7 manufacturer with 3 shifts, so - 160/1 at any given time.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller
                        last edited by

                        On Wall St we were 4:1

                        At the Hedge Fund we were 3:1

                        In big manufacturing we were like 800:1

                        In most SMBs we see a few hundred to one working well.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                        • RojoLocoR
                          RojoLoco
                          last edited by

                          About 30:1, that includes the Hyderabad office as well. And my users are pretty damn good overall, I truly can't complain.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                          • scottalanmillerS
                            scottalanmiller
                            last edited by

                            The diversity in support is really amazing. Which we have always known. Of course some places like NTG are insane at like 1:3 (one user to three IT) but that is expected. but that some of the biggest companies run at 3:1 when IT is not their business, is really something.

                            What I think you'll find is that outside of direct desktop support, helpdesk or end user support the user to IT ratio is totally meaningless. Like at Citi or the hedgefund where we were 4:1 and 3:1.... how many of those IT staff supported end users? No idea.... because we never, ever saw people who did that. And nearly everyone in IT only supported other people in IT. I think that any kind of user to IT ratio is super misleading. Banks have more DBAs to user ratio than a lot of SMBs have IT to users.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • David.ScammellD
                              David.Scammell
                              last edited by

                              We're about 45:1 here (about 145 total company users) ... hardware, software, third-party apps, email, servers, Wi-Fi, mobile, and just about anything else that is electronic or plugs into a wall outlet. 🙂 We also sometimes support tenants in our building, but they pay per incident.

                              BTW, our line of business is a cross between Media and Publishing ... Books, eBooks, Magazine, eMagazines, Advertising, Websites (tied to our other products), etc.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                              • stacksofplatesS
                                stacksofplates
                                last edited by

                                We are maybe 20-25:1 but the corporate guys are more like 300:1 (but thats everyone on their team, not just help desk)

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • larsen161L
                                  larsen161
                                  last edited by larsen161

                                  60:1
                                  Tech startup with ~$500M investment
                                  1,000 users across 6 main offices

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • ObsolesceO
                                    Obsolesce
                                    last edited by

                                    I think a much better question is Hardware + users : IT staff.

                                    You could have a warehouse of 2000 workers and only 10 pcs. Who cares.

                                    I'm at a company with roughly 250 "local" users and 3.5 it staff. But we support probably 700 or more computers and servers just locally.

                                    We are constantly busy and have a ticketing system. We could really use two more it staff, tier 1or 2, to be optimal.

                                    scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • scottalanmillerS
                                      scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                                      last edited by

                                      @Tim_G said in User to IT ratio:

                                      I think a much better question is Hardware + users : IT staff.

                                      I think it needs even more than that. IT Staff is too general to ever compare like this. Maybe users to helpdesk staff would make sense. Or servers to admin staff. Or routers to network staff. Things like that.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • scottalanmillerS
                                        scottalanmiller
                                        last edited by

                                        Here is an example of why this makes no sense to use equipment as the guide:

                                        Company 1: 100 employees, buys Scale hyperconverged appliances, does VDI with WorkSpot, uses enterprise thin clients. All hardware is 100% under vendor management and support. All desktops are identical. Backups are to a Datto appliance, hosted. All network gear is Meraki and managed by a VAR. All software is Office 365 and other major SaaS applications. Ratio 100:1

                                        Company 2: 100 employees. Servers are custom built by the IT department. Every desktop is made in house. Each machine is high performance and very unique. Replacement parts are stocked locally and IT does all swaps. Turn over is high. All main applications are written, tested and deployed internally. Mix of hypervisors, operating systems, hardware and apps are used. Backups are done by custom tools. Ratio 100:15

                                        Totally different situations and approaches requiring totally different numbers of IT per user. The IT departments do very different tasks, too.

                                        ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • scottalanmillerS
                                          scottalanmiller
                                          last edited by

                                          DevOps will do the same kind of thing. If you look at servers to system admin ratio we get some crazy things.

                                          Snowflake (no DevOps) the highest ratio I've ever seen is 600:1 servers to admins. The highest I've seen in a normal shop is around 35:1. 100:1 is extreme.

                                          DevOps it is trivial to have 10,000:1.

                                          stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • ObsolesceO
                                            Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                            last edited by

                                            @scottalanmiller said in User to IT ratio:

                                            Here is an example of why this makes no sense to use equipment as the guide:

                                            Company 1: 100 employees, buys Scale hyperconverged appliances, does VDI with WorkSpot, uses enterprise thin clients. All hardware is 100% under vendor management and support. All desktops are identical. Backups are to a Datto appliance, hosted. All network gear is Meraki and managed by a VAR. All software is Office 365 and other major SaaS applications. Ratio 100:1

                                            Company 2: 100 employees. Servers are custom built by the IT department. Every desktop is made in house. Each machine is high performance and very unique. Replacement parts are stocked locally and IT does all swaps. Turn over is high. All main applications are written, tested and deployed internally. Mix of hypervisors, operating systems, hardware and apps are used. Backups are done by custom tools. Ratio 100:15

                                            Totally different situations and approaches requiring totally different numbers of IT per user. The IT departments do very different tasks, too.

                                            Yes this is pretty much what I was trying to get at... That it depends because it's totally different from place ti place and industry.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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