It's always about the money (Score 2)

Go outside of IT to buy a "cheap" laptop, cheaper than the standard model we provide. But without the warranty($), and you bought a cheap consumer model, not a business class model($), and it won't run the software your dept. relies on, and when it blows up because you let your nephew install "better" antivirus software to fix the crapware you loaded, IT has to rebuild it. But we don't have an image for it, so it takes a day or 2, instead of an hour or 2.

Go outside of IT to the cloud for backup, go right ahead and trust business or client data to that web startup. Sure, it's a lot easier than using the corporate VPN, until the data is exposed. Or until you forget your password, and IT can't help you, no matter how much you jump up & down, because you used an outside service.

It's not okay for IT staff to be surly or give bad advice or not listen. But you may want to consider that some of us have a clue, and a better understanding of our company's IT environment than your brother-in-law, and we do care about what you need, and will do our best to help you.