Spiceworks Community Digest: A day without IT

A lot can go wrong in 24 hours without IT, but what would a day without IT professionals actually look like? It’s a question that often crosses our minds when we feel underappreciated or when a user complains about a minor issue. For a single day, would the world keep running, or would chaos unleash?

The post, from spiceuser-vng0, asked a thought-provoking question: “What do you think the world would come too if all IT Professionals and the likes ceased to exist for 24 hours? No support, no upkeep, no hackers, etc.”

The First 24 Hours: A Slow Burn

The community largely agreed that for most businesses, the first 24 hours would be more of an annoyance than a full-blown breakdown.

• Son of Jor-El: “24 hours? Not much would go wrong. Maybe a printer here and there, but that’s about it. Anything weather related may be a different ballgame.”
• ericesparza: “i know there was a couple days where me and the boss had covid at the same time. i think the company went without IT support for 2 business days and didn’t implode. but they were happy when we returned”
• J-Nonya: “24-hours, a light panic at the back of the neck of C-Suite but nothing serious…”

Beyond 24 Hours: A Slippery Slope

The replies highlighted that the real danger lies not in the first 24 hours, but in the days and weeks that follow. This is when the cumulative effect of a lack of IT support would truly set in.

• J-Nonya: “48-hours and that light panic has turned into a deep-seated fear that something might be about to go wrong… fast-forward, 1 week (five days) has now passed and things have become problematic. Reports aren’t generating, data is duplicated and/or stale, printers are sporadically offline… Two weeks, the cheaper equipment that the company swore would work just as good as what you recommended has failed, production has halted and panic is now the order of the day…”
• PatrickFarrell: “Service contracts expire and services get cut off because nobody was there to renew them and/or put in new license keys etc. Carrier services stop working. Short term lots of places could go weeks and still continue but offboards and onboards would be a nightmare for them.”

What do you think would happen? Would a day without IT be a welcome break, or the start of the apocalypse? Head over to the Spiceworks Community to join the discussion and share your thoughts!