u/Due-Swimming3221

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I started a new job as head of IT at a company a few weeks ago.

Just sticking around after hours to troubleshoot an issue for one of the women on the marketing team, I'm working away on her laptop. She sent me some info I needed in our Teams conversation, so I searched my name on her laptop to pull the information... In the process of doing so, a group chat between her and the other women in her team from a few weeks ago appeared. It read:

Woman #1: new IT guy is in the office

Woman #2: ooooh what does he look like?

Woman #1: late 30s, shaved head

Woman #3: not cute, if that's what you're wondering

🙃

I started a new job as head of IT at a company a few weeks ago.

Just sticking around after hours to troubleshoot an issue for one of the women on the marketing team, I'm working away on her laptop. She sent me some info I needed in our Teams conversation, so I searched my name on her laptop to pull the information... In the process of doing so, a group chat between her and the other women in her team from a few weeks ago appeared. It read:

Woman #1: new IT guy is in the office

Woman #2: ooooh what does he look like?

Woman #1: late 30s, shaved head

Woman #3: not cute, if that's what you're wondering

🙃

Hey all. Just taken on an IT manager role and inherited infrastructure that needs some work. gonna propose a hardware refresh and want some outside input before the quotes come through.

The setup:

• 10 sites, head office plus 9 remote construction cabins
• All sites running SonicWall firewalls, Netgear switches, Unifi APs
• Head office is different, it's been refreshed already and is all Unifi (switches, APs, CloudKey)
• Only 2 of the SonicWalls are still in support, so the rest need replacing

Our VAR is quoting us on three options: SonicWall, Fortinet, and Unifi.

• SonicWall - already in place everywhere, and 2 units don't need replacing at all since they're still current. Least disruption by far. Also our end users are already using SonicWall's client VPN for accessing our fileserver.
• Fortinet - I came from a Fortigate environment so I actually know my way around it a bit. Not sure how much weight to give that when making the call though.
• Unifi - apparently the cheapest option and would tie everything in with the head office setup. Main concern I keep hearing is that it's not really up to scratch as a proper security appliance according to industry friends who know networking and security better than I do, specifically around tweaking IPS and web filtering. Not sure if that's a fair criticism , as im taking their word for it

networking isn't my strongest area. Is Unifi actually viable for a setup like this or is it more of a home/prosumer thing? And is the familiarity argument for Fortinet actually worth anything in practice? the VAR seems to think Unifi will be my best bet and doesn't place too much importance on the lack of tweaking ability for security policies etc. as that's more an endpoint configuration thing nowadays and it's irrelevant when people work from home. but that statement "feels" like a copout, I just cant articulate why

opinions greatly appreciated as this'll be a costly change and I am motivated to get it right. Thanks so much in advance

Hey all. Just taken on an IT manager role and inherited infrastructure that needs some work. gonna propose a hardware refresh and want some outside input before the quotes come through.

The setup:

• 10 sites, head office plus 9 remote construction cabins
• All sites running SonicWall firewalls, Netgear switches, Unifi APs
• Head office is different, it's been refreshed already and is all Unifi (switches, APs, CloudKey)
• Only 2 of the SonicWalls are still in support, so the rest need replacing

Our VAR is quoting us on three options: SonicWall, Fortinet, and Unifi.

• SonicWall - already in place everywhere, and 2 units don't need replacing at all since they're still current. Least disruption by far. Also our end users are already using SonicWall's client VPN for accessing our fileserver.
• Fortinet - I came from a Fortigate environment so I actually know my way around it a bit. Not sure how much weight to give that when making the call though.
• Unifi - apparently the cheapest option and would tie everything in with the head office setup. Main concern I keep hearing is that it's not really up to scratch as a proper security appliance according to industry friends who know networking and security better than I do, specifically around tweaking IPS and web filtering. Not sure if that's a fair criticism , as im taking their word for it

networking isn't my strongest area. Is Unifi actually viable for a setup like this or is it more of a home/prosumer thing? And is the familiarity argument for Fortinet actually worth anything in practice? the VAR seems to think Unifi will be my best bet and doesn't place too much importance on the lack of tweaking ability for security policies etc. as that's more an endpoint configuration thing nowadays and it's irrelevant when people work from home. but that statement "feels" like a copout, I just cant articulate why

opinions greatly appreciated as this'll be a costly change and I am motivated to get it right. Thanks so much in advance

Hey all. Just taken on an IT manager role and inherited infrastructure that needs some work. gonna propose a hardware refresh and want some outside input before the quotes come through.

The setup:

• 10 sites, head office plus 9 remote construction cabins
• All sites running SonicWall firewalls, Netgear switches, Unifi APs
• Head office is different, it's been refreshed already and is all Unifi (switches, APs, CloudKey)
• Only 2 of the SonicWalls are still in support, so the rest need replacing

Our VAR is quoting us on three options: SonicWall, Fortinet, and Unifi.

• SonicWall - already in place everywhere, and 2 units don't need replacing at all since they're still current. Least disruption by far. Also our end users are already using SonicWall's client VPN for accessing our fileserver.
• Fortinet - I came from a Fortigate environment so I actually know my way around it a bit. Not sure how much weight to give that when making the call though.
• Unifi - apparently the cheapest option and would tie everything in with the head office setup. Main concern I keep hearing is that it's not really up to scratch as a proper security appliance according to industry friends who know networking and security better than I do, specifically around tweaking IPS and web filtering. Not sure if that's a fair criticism , as im taking their word for it

networking isn't my strongest area. Is Unifi actually viable for a setup like this or is it more of a home/prosumer thing? And is the familiarity argument for Fortinet actually worth anything in practice? the VAR seems to think Unifi will be my best bet and doesn't place too much importance on the lack of tweaking ability for security policies etc. as that's more an endpoint configuration thing nowadays and it's irrelevant when people work from home. but that statement "feels" like a copout, I just cant articulate why

opinions greatly appreciated as this'll be a costly change and I am motivated to get it right. Thanks so much in advance

​

Hi everyone, I joined a construction firm as the IT Manager about two weeks ago and I've inherited a bit of a situation.

The previous guy mainly bought consumer-grade laptops (think Dell 16 / DC16250). On paper, they’re about 1/3rd the cost of enterprise gear, which I'm sure made the CEO happy at the time. However, I’m out in the field and the feedback is....not great. Each site visit, I encounter at least 1 person in remote locations that's complaining about performance lag, and when I get my hand on it to verify, it's often a case of 8GB ram laptops (and sometimes even 16GB) running at 80%+ ram usage.

I've got Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in the back of my mind. While the initial price tag is low, the "hidden costs" are starting to show now the old manager is exiting the business:

Consumer models change internal components every few months, which I guess will make driver management a mess when I migrate everyone to InTune (on the roadmap) compared to the 12 to 18 month stability of something like the PB16250.

Construction sites aren't exactly "gentle" environments. Between the dust and humidity, these consumer fans and hinges are taking a beating I guess, because many of the machines are noisy.

My boss (CEO) is definitely going to balk if I suggest a full enterprise refresh since they're used to those low consumer prices. only finance/CAD guys/execs get the pro line of laptops.. I’m trying to tread carefully here and don't want to look like I'm just asking for an unlimited budget.

This is my first management role, so I guess my question goes beyond the tech, but rather how I approach this discussion with my new boss. I suppose I could feedback everything I'm witnessing and simply ask if he accepts the performance hits and we continue to go the consumer route? Really keen to hear your guys' thoughts and if you've experienced similar before.

Also improtant to note, I'm from a background where orgs I've worked for value tech, so we've aways had enterprise grade laptops. While I mention deploying a fleet of consumer grade laptops "feels" wrong, I totally accept I may just be overthinking it, so a sanity check may also be necessary.

Does anyone else actually use consumer laptops in their org, or even for a specific subset of users (like basic admin) to save on costs?

How do you articulate that "gut feeling" that consumer gear is wrong for an org when the price difference is so high?

Would love some advice on how to handle this without making the CEO think I'm looking at overspending 2 weeks in. Acutely aware that many of these machines are crossing the 3 year threshold and the noise is gonna increase, and doing a big refresh with more consumer units could be a false economy.

Thanks so much in advance! I've really enjoyed lurking this subreddit, I feel it's gonna be a valuable tool for my career so I appreciate each and every one of you that contribute