The Real IT Crowd

It’s been over 15 years since The IT Crowd was filmed, and IT has transformed from a slightly misunderstood back-room office function to a central pillar of every organisation since then. So we wondered what Jen, Moss and Roy would be doing in 2023?

They’d still be working in a basement...

...or maybe their bedrooms. Whilst IT has grown exponentially in importance since the heady days of the early noughties, and the IT Crowd probably moved upstairs for a few years, now more and more of us are working from home, and that often means the kitchen table, or even the (converted) basement.

They’d still be wearily telling colleagues to ‘turn it off and on again’

Technology might be a hundred times better than 15 years ago, but this advice will never age, and still miraculously, works (sometimes!).

And they’d be automating everything

Roy and Moss had to rely on their bespoke answering machine to field the endlessly vapid requests from upstairs. These days they would be masters of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and IFTTT (If This Then That).

So what’s changed?

To state the obvious, IT is a more, ahem, professional operation. Jen and the gang would have to embrace their work being measured in terms of what it contributes to Reynholm’s business goals, which would have made for interesting board meetings with Douglas.

Server rooms are no longer a mysterious and cavernous dark place where a Technician like Richmond might be not-so-secretly living. It’s all refrigerated warehouses and bright lighting these days, which would definitely not suit a goth. And thanks to the cloud he may become completely homeless in the not-too-distant future.

‘Geek chic’ is now everywhere. Short trousers – check. Star Wars T shirts – check. White trainers – always.?One of our clients was given an anorak when she left HR and joined IT 10 years ago. Now, they’ll all be wearing anoraks!

The neurodiverse are revered for their brilliance and celebrated for their differences. IT has come of age and been accepted by everyone as essential to their lives. We’re lucky that we live in a golden age of technology where Jen, Moss and Roy would surely thrive and be worshipped as Gods.

But what would they make of it?

We like to think they’d have formed an IT consultancy just like ours!

We’ll be sharing some of our favourite scenes from the show over the next few weeks. Tell us what your favourite episode is, and we’ll include it in our line up.

And with 2023 fast approaching, could you use an independent perspective on your IT strategy? ImprovIT are an independent business and technology consultancy. We were founded by former colleagues of Gartner, IBM and HP to help senior IT leaders make the critical decisions that will maximise their technology investments.?

We’re independent and impartial specialists in the use of IT Measurement, Modelling and Benchmarking. Contact us today for an informal chat about how we could help you improve your IT (and your favourite IT Crowd episode ??).