-
Any device that connects to our network has to be owned, maintained, updated, and controlled by us. Otherwise, it's the same as allowing anyone to connect.
Additionally, the laptop will often serve as the first step in bootstrapping a DR plan and should be off-network and available during non-business hours.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
We've seen how normal users can treat equipment. We don't want to have to fix a system before we can use it!
How's that for an excuse?
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I would add licensing issues - You often can't legally put company licensed software on a personally owned device.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Senior sysadmins should have a laptop even if its their daily driver, with appropriate desktop accoutrements for the office.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Robert5205 wrote:
Any device that connects to our network has to be owned, maintained, updated, and controlled by us. Otherwise, it's the same as allowing anyone to connect.
...
We operate the same system.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
So sysadmin can remote in from home/hotel/vacation to fix stuff.
Take notes in meetings.
Connect to equipment via serial.
To babysit outside vendors working via remote session so your main computer isn't tied up watching someone else drive.
I say that if you are getting any pushback, then the organization does not value the skills of senior sysadmins and does not deserve to have any.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Mike4003 wrote:
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
I would issue all IT staff a laptop unless they are in a call center helpdesk type job.
IT trouble shooting requires the ability to go to the problem and work where the problem is occurring. being tied to a desk and having to walk back and forth is extremely limiting.
Do you do oncall? a laptop would be required for oncall access.
laptop \ desktop costs are essentially the same price for a decent mid ranged computer. why would you limit your staff? If cost is the issue look at getting good refurbished units.
-
It is a perk! Don't knock it!
I will say it helps with testing as well. We are issued the same hardware as 90% of our staff. Remote work, I've done many hours recently, after hours when interruptions are tolerated.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
molan wrote:
Mike4003 wrote:
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
I would issue all IT staff a laptop unless they are in a call center helpdesk type job.
IT trouble shooting requires the ability to go to the problem and work where the problem is occurring. being tied to a desk and having to walk back and forth is extremely limiting.
Do you do oncall? a laptop would be required for oncall access.
laptop \ desktop costs are essentially the same price for a decent mid ranged computer. why would you limit your staff? If cost is the issue look at getting good refurbished units.
I work in one non-profit location w/ 18 users. If I on-call, I'm onsite.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Mike4003 wrote:
molan wrote:
Mike4003 wrote:
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
I would issue all IT staff a laptop unless they are in a call center helpdesk type job.
IT trouble shooting requires the ability to go to the problem and work where the problem is occurring. being tied to a desk and having to walk back and forth is extremely limiting.
Do you do oncall? a laptop would be required for oncall access.
laptop \ desktop costs are essentially the same price for a decent mid ranged computer. why would you limit your staff? If cost is the issue look at getting good refurbished units.
I work in one non-profit location w/ 18 users. If I on-call, I'm onsite.
Bad luck for you :-]
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Hmm.... I've been doing this for a LONG time now. 31 years. In all that time I've never heard anyone ask why senior IT personnel needed company laptops. Maybe it's just the nature of the organizations I've worked at, but the second thing [after an ID card] I was issued was a laptop. Or in a couple of occasions, authorization to order the laptop "I thought I would need".
Thinking about the question, maybe the reasons aren't self-evident to people who don't work in IT or another job with "flexible" schedules [i.e. you're expected to be flexible and work whatever hours are needed to get the job done].
So:
1. Senior IT personnel are expected to be on-call for emergencies or unusual business events. A laptop allows them to be useful when support is needed.
2. Without equipment for remote access available to employees, the company will be required to run an off hours shift in order for maintenance to be performed without negatively impacting the organization. This extra shift will either require overtime and/or additional personnel.
3. Asking employees to use personal equipment to perform company work presents ethical, financial and potentially legal issues depending on the work the employee performs.
4. Personal equipment may be missing critical security controls necessary to protect the company. "Requiring" employees to alter personal computers to meet corporate standards is problematic at best.
5. Personal equipment will certainly be missing any corporate software necessary to manage the environment. Installing this software on personal machines presents licensing challenges that can easily exceed the cost of a laptop.
6. Using personal equipment to manage the environment opens the company to possible data theft by employees or by others who have access to the employee's computer.
Those are more obvious issues that I can think of off the top of my head.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Critical documentation of the network -- that is, any information required to rebuild the physical network from scratch and restore configuration and data from backups -- should be maintained and stored in a location accessible to senior IT personnel even if the facility is inaccessible. Think flood, fire, airplane crash, etc.
You could [and probably should] store two copies on offline media in a separate, secure location[s] [maintaining it by updating alternating copies, regularly] but it may be more difficult to ensure that it is available and accessible when needed. If it's in your bank's safe deposit box, will you be able to access the information at 3 am on Columbus Day?
A company-issued laptop in the hands of a senior system administrator is a great place to store a maintained copy of this documentation. [It should be stored in other locations as well.] It will be available and accessible to the admin [assuming the admin is in possession of the laptop] with a minimum of fuss.
This documentation will be security-sensitive. You don't want that info to fall into the wrong hands. A personal device won't necessarily meet corporate controls. The laptop should have full-disk encryption. Offline media should be encrypted.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Thanks for the replies everyone, there were definitely a couple of extra points here that I hadn't really thought about in-depth.
For context, I am currently going through the process of negotiating this situation for myself. I currently use my own laptop but would like this to change and I'm writing a small business case for it. The company isn't as open-minded as some about these kind of things. I do however think that I'll be able to bring them round without too much issue.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
It took me 3 years to get a laptop...still can't connect it to the domain though, but that wasn't the point either.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
In addition to all the above it simply makes it cleaner when you move on. Sign out the equipment when issued, use it just for company purposes, sign it back in when you leave. I personally insist on this for anything a company expects me to have: laptops, mobile phones, whatever. No worries about anything left over you shouldn't have.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Unless they feel like they built your salary high enough to cover a laptop with *proof*, otherwise company should provide one.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
I don't have a company laptop
In preference, I have a desktop for my every day use.
Tools and documentation is stored locally for me - and I've expanded my workstation to give me plenty of storage & memory for those sysadmin tasks that need doing. It wouldn't be as easy to do that in a laptop [although there are some that can].
Just occasionally it's a PITA - meetings? Generally, if it's something thats involving my work, the meeting will be in my office so I still have access to everything - which is quite handy with the 3 screens. It is a PITA when away from my desk.
Troubleshooting - it would be handy to be able to take it with me when troubleshooting network issues around the office and the remote [walking distance] warehouse - but TBA, I can do most of it on my phone or tablet.
Remote meetings - I have a couple of remote meetings [looks like there may be more coming up] - a laptop would be hugely beneficial here - currently I take my own laptop - I don't mind adhoc, but I have a rule of "if the company expects, then the company provides" - ie we don't rely on the users own kit - that goes for me too.
I do have access to 2 pool laptops - one of which I took over when we migrated our ERP - but that's getting a bit old now ... and I certainly couldnt use it as my daily machine.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
They're handy for diagnosing network issues, and can be plugged directly into switches, patch panels, and wall sockets via RJ45 and Serial.
Handy for checking things while at users desks. Handy for testing printers and other equipment instead of having to kick a user off their computer near the printer.
Handy just to use for a few hours if your PC goes pear shaped while testing something.
Handy to use for allowing remote support guys access, instead of tying up your daily PC.
Handy for running tasks that would other wise tie up your machine for a length of time.
Wouldn't be the first time I've loaned my works laptop out to a user when theirs is broke and i'm busy fixing it.
If you work from home, or require remote access from outside the company, then it should be provided by the company, and anything on it belongs to the company.
I'm sure there's other reasons too.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Knowing myself, if this question would have been asked after I submitted the request for a laptop:"No, [senior] SYSadmins and/or other IT staff most defenitively don't need business laptops, they rather are not on-call for anyhting when they're not at the office. Besides that, my personal rule is to NOT use any personal equipment for my job".I found out that, in the kind of situations where I got those kind of "do we really need..... [fill out something]" questions this worked flawless. The respons I mostly got was "so we really do need it!".And no, I haven't had any backfires with this way as I know when to do it and when not. Point I make with this is to let people [mostly managers] think for a moment how many times I acutally ask for investments [let stand needless ones].
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
If money is tight, provide senior SysAds with a quality laptop [and dock] instead of a desktop. If management isn't open to that cost-savings scenario, they are beyond hope.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Mike4003 wrote:
molan wrote:
Mike4003 wrote:
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
I would issue all IT staff a laptop unless they are in a call center helpdesk type job.
IT trouble shooting requires the ability to go to the problem and work where the problem is occurring. being tied to a desk and having to walk back and forth is extremely limiting.
Do you do oncall? a laptop would be required for oncall access.
laptop \ desktop costs are essentially the same price for a decent mid ranged computer. why would you limit your staff? If cost is the issue look at getting good refurbished units.
I work in one non-profit location w/ 18 users. If I on-call, I'm onsite.
That's not on call, that's overtime. Paid overtime. They can't even say, "you're salaried", if that's the case. Labor laws prevent it. You should stop being taken advantage of.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Captain Murphy wrote:
Mike4003 wrote:
molan wrote:
Mike4003 wrote:
I can't see a business case for not having a laptop, especially at senior levels. I don't have a laptop daily driver but I've got a dozen within as many steps.
I would issue all IT staff a laptop unless they are in a call center helpdesk type job.
IT trouble shooting requires the ability to go to the problem and work where the problem is occurring. being tied to a desk and having to walk back and forth is extremely limiting.
Do you do oncall? a laptop would be required for oncall access.
laptop \ desktop costs are essentially the same price for a decent mid ranged computer. why would you limit your staff? If cost is the issue look at getting good refurbished units.
I work in one non-profit location w/ 18 users. If I on-call, I'm onsite.
That's not on call, that's overtime. Paid overtime. They can't even say, "you're salaried", if that's the case. Labor laws prevent it. You should stop being taken advantage of.
Not necessarily. The point of being exempt from time reporting [technical term for being salaried] is you don't have fixed work hours. He could be on-call that weekend and take the time off on Monday for example. Most salaried personnel work around 4 to 8 hours a week of "overtime" just not always at the office. The tradeoff is more flexibility if you need to make a doctor's appointment or have an emergency. Your paycheck shouldn't be affected.
It's a fine line though. I've seen employers try to have it both ways by classifying employees as "exempt" while still requiring them to punch a clock and doc them for time missed. THAT is exploitation and will get you into hot water in most states if an employee files a complaint. IBM tried playing that game and finally got burned for it.
Back to the original question though, "senior" IT personnel are on call 24 hours a day for serious emergencies [ERP database server takes a dump for example]. As such they're often asked to work odd hours. That means those personnel need the resources necessary to perform their jobs even while at home. If you're looking at a business case for issuing someone a laptop, ask yourself how much it's gonna cost if the business is down because everyone had to wait for someone to drive to the office in order to get a system back up and running. Laptops are cheap.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
We have laptops for SysAdmins for the following reasons:
- Laptops have a built-in UPS [battery] that enables them to administer systems in a power outage - shutting down non-critical systems, rerouting network traffic, etc.
- Portable device can be taken to source of a problem - management interfaces on equipment, providing the "other" party in two-party debugging scenarios.
- We've got cloud, so a quick walk over to a Starbucks, or tethering to a cellphone gives access to make adjustments during a BCP / DR situation
- Ability to work remotely / on-call
- Trusted system on domain when remoting in, not personal system the kids use. Greater security.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
IT troubleshooting requires a laptop to the network devices via serial, Senior Sysadmin can work on non-working days if any help required on a critical issue from a remote place.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down -
Beware if taking on a laptop means you are now expected to provide after hours support because of that. Might be better not too in that case.
Was this post helpful? thumb_up thumb_down