Mark,
We used to be under estates and "helped out" with a few electronic related problems, control boards for lifts, backup lighting controllers etc. but these were few and far between. We wouldn't consider asking sparkies to assist us, they would probably be straight up to their super. for a pay rise.
We took on some Assistant Technical Officers to work on low tech stuff, they were employed at a lower grade than qualified electricians! A move that I vehemently argued against, after all they are required to do a techician's job at a lower grade.
If you are looking to merge with someone I'd home in on the IT dept. after all there is a greater convergeance between us and IT. There are mainy times that we hve been at the mercy of IT to "allow" us to sort out equipment problems.
