TL;DR: Our IT anti-resolution webinar flips the usual IT playbook on its head, showing how reducing tool sprawl and automating smarter — not harder — leads to faster fixes, better visibility, and fewer headaches for IT teams.
The IT anti-resolution is the idea that teams move faster by doing less: fewer tools, fewer manual decisions, and smarter automation. Instead of adding complexity, the goal is to simplify the stack and remove friction from everyday workflows.
IT teams are continually asked to do more and more: roll out new tools, take on new priorities, and fix everything faster. On paper, it makes sense. More tools should mean more capability. But in reality, it often backfires. Tool sprawl creates overlap. Automation gets harder to manage. Visibility gets split across systems. And admins spend more time jumping between consoles than actually solving problems.
However, you can challenge the default “add more” mindset and replace it with something refreshingly practical to improve your workflows: simplify the stack, automate intelligently, and remove friction wherever it hides. We’ll show you how.
The anti-resolution: Doing less, achieving more in IT
Check out our on-demand webinar to learn how to cut the noise and move faster.
“I am always a huge proponent of doing more with less,” says Brock Bingham, PDQ’s senior content engineer. “Some say it’s because I’m lazy. It is definitely because I’m lazy — but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.”
Why adding more tools slows IT teams down
You’ve probably heard it a million times, but complexity is the enemy of speed.
Every new tool adds surface area, and every disconnected system creates another handoff. Over time, the environment becomes harder to manage not because IT isn’t capable but because the stack itself is fighting back.
Stop taking 10,000 steps just to fix one machine
Integrated remote desktop reduces tool switching and speeds up troubleshooting by letting admins connect to devices from the same console they already manage.
Instead of launching a separate app, authenticating again, and hunting for the right endpoint, PDQ Connect allows admins to connect directly from the same interface where they already manage devices.
From there, it’s about speed and control. Features like attended and unattended sessions, drag-and-drop file transfers, built-in chat, multi-monitor support, black screen mode for privacy, and session recording for documentation can enhance the experience (and give sysadmins hero status).
Integrated remote desktop means fewer clicks, fewer tools, and fewer excuses to bounce between consoles just to get basic work done.
Centralize your endpoint management
With PDQ Connect, gain real-time visibility, deploy software, remediate vulnerabilities, schedule reports, automate maintenance tasks, and access remote devices from one easy-to-use platform.
Let PowerShell do the heavy lifting
If remote desktop is the muscle, PowerShell is the leverage.
Rather than showcasing sprawling scripts, the webinar leans into one of PowerShell’s most underrated strengths: small, surgical one-liners that solve real problems quickly. PDQ power user and Sysadmin Hall of Famer Marcel Lipovsky walks through examples that highlighted just how much value can be packed into a single command when it’s deployed in the right place.
One standout is Wake-on-LAN for remote devices — a simple solution to a universal problem. You ask users not to shut down their machines. They do it anyway. With a short PowerShell command and another device on the same network, admins can wake sleeping endpoints without waiting, pleading, or rescheduling work.
Another timely example focuses on certificate expiration checks. With older certificate authorities aging out, IT teams need a fast way to identify which systems are ready and which ones aren’t. A one-liner run across endpoints can return a simple true-or-false answer, turning what could be a painful audit into a quick verification step.
These aren’t flashy automations. They’re practical shortcuts — the kind that save minutes dozens of times a week and quietly add up to hours reclaimed.
Automate yourself out of the boring parts of the job
Effective IT automation removes repetitive decisions from daily workflows so admins can focus on work that requires judgment.
While automation is often framed as a big, scary initiative, the most effective automations are boring — and that’s the point.
The webinar breaks automation down into everyday scenarios IT teams deal with constantly: onboarding new devices, keeping browsers up to date, and preventing unwanted software from spreading.
One example shows how baseline packages can automatically deploy the moment a new device appears. Instead of manually installing the same core tools every time, admins define the standard once and let the system handle the rest. A new laptop joins the environment, the right software shows up without human intervention, and nobody has to remember a checklist.
Patching strategy also benefits from automation. Pilot groups can receive updates immediately to surface issues early. Production systems can follow on a schedule that matches the organization’s risk tolerance. The logic is simple, but proper automation removes an enormous amount of manual babysitting.
Automation can even work in reverse. Instead of deploying software, it can remove it. If a deny-listed app appears — whether it’s Webex, a game, or something far worse — an automation can uninstall it automatically without tickets or awkward conversations.
The takeaway is clear: Automation isn’t about replacing IT jobs. It’s about eliminating repetitive decisions so admins can focus on the work that actually needs human judgment.
Leverage APIs reduce tickets and manual IT work
APIs tend to scare people off, but they don’t have to. Steve Stoddard, a software testing and quality assurance specialist at PDQ, demonstrates how even basic PDQ Connect API usage can unlock powerful integrations that reduce manual work across systems.
By querying device data, software inventories, and deployment details programmatically, IT teams can connect their endpoint management platform to ticketing systems, internal tools, or custom workflows. A ticket asking for Chrome installation can trigger a lookup, identify the correct device, and deploy the package automatically — no console clicking required.
The magic isn’t the code itself. It’s what disappears because of it: emails, handoffs, approvals, and follow-ups that never needed to exist in the first place.
APIs are how IT stops reacting and starts orchestrating.
Produce leadership-level reports without the spreadsheet pain
Reporting is often where good intentions go to die. Leaders want visibility. IT teams want less overhead. Spreadsheets multiply. Dashboards sprawl.
The webinar closes by showing how simple, targeted reports can bridge that gap without turning into a full-time job. In PDQ Connect, disk usage, vulnerability exposure, last-seen status, startup applications, patch group membership, and other reports can all be built quickly, filtered cleanly, and scheduled to send automatically.
Scheduled reports turn IT from reactive to proactive. Instead of being asked for updates, teams can deliver them automatically and build trust in the process.
Do more by finally doing less
The anti-resolution for IT teams is simple: Eliminate unnecessary work so progress happens by default.
But the real message of the webinar isn’t about any single feature or workflow. It’s about mindset.
IT teams don’t need more tools. They need fewer, better options. They don’t need more tasks. They need fewer manual decisions. And they don’t need louder dashboards. They need clearer signals.
By simplifying the stack, leaning into automation, and tightening feedback loops through reporting and APIs, IT teams can move faster while doing less work.
That’s the anti-resolution worth keeping.
Try PDQ Connect today to get started.
