Collaborative Post¦ We’ve often heard the phrase ‘time is money.’ It’s something that entrepreneurs keep close to their hearts when trying to build a brand, and it’s a truth we all need to be cognizant of when building our careers. However, as this essential maxim has been true for many decades at this point, or perhaps even since trade began, another maxim has developed – technology is money.
Put simply, if your business fails to curate effective technological infrastructure, namely its IT architecture, then it’s going to fail to compete. Imagining a company without a website is somewhat difficult now, when thirty years ago, it certainly wasn’t the norm. So, if technology is money, that means downtime or IT errors are certainly going to cost you.
For this reason, all firms should feel as motivated as possible to prevent these circumstances from taking place. But how can they? In this guide, we’ll discuss that, as well as a few measures you can use to make this eventuality less possible:
Plan For Disaster Recovery
There might be chatter between you and your colleagues about which the better browser is: safari vs chrome. However, the real discussion needs to happen regarding disaster-proofing! good to plan for disaster recovery needs when necessary, for obvious reasons. Even a small startup can suffer from floods if they’re unfortunate enough, and if that prevents your small business from being able to enjoy necessary uptime, then you’ll struggle to compete in your space.
For this reason, disaster recovery services and insurance are worth investing in. This can ensure that certain elements of your IT are well provided for, such as making certain that you can replace equipment if necessary, or that cloud computing integration means you won’t lose any files if your main computers go down. When it comes to disaster recovery data needs to be retrievable and you need to make sure that you have confidence in that. This will keep you in a better headspace in this understandably stressful situation. This will enable you to focus on the actual necessary scope of disaster recovery, such as repairing your premises and ensuring your safety and that of your staff. As already mentioned, this is a problem that can affect businesses far and wide, no matter how humble or large they are. In that respect, having this vital contingency planned for can be a real load off your mind.
Use IT Consultancy Services
Taking the time to procure IT consultancy services can help you adapt to the modern market. This is true even if you’re a startup business just hoping to structure your business in the right way.
These services help you take the busywork out of setting up your IT and understanding what the needs of your professional outlet are. For instance, this can involve making sure you’re using the right cybersecurity measures from the jump, ensuring your workflow enhances productivity, and how to curate your IT infrastructure. Basically, technology is always changing, always adapted, and always highly specialized. It pays real dividends to have the experts weigh in on exactly what your small firm needs, as well as helping you set all of that up as appropriate. In that respect, you’ll be in good and safe hands.
As mentioned at the start of this post – technology is also always changing. Having consultants on hand to help define what developments are worth paying attention to and integrating can prevent you from making unnecessary investment decisions, possibly even specializing in a way that actually inhibits the productivity of your firm. As you can understand, this constitutes a very real problem.
Train Your Staff In Best Practice & Security
Training your staff in best practice and security will help you avoid issues that could otherwise be avoided. This includes how to continually change their passwords and what standards they should use when changing them. For instance, using a special character, capital letters and numbers, as well as a worthwhile combination of memorable passphrases, on top of adding 2 factor authentication to their account, can be tremendously necessary and worthwhile.
You may also decide that they need more training on how to properly use VPN software, or you could directly invest in one-button logon approaches that ensure their work is always secured and encrypted when accessing your systems remotely.
Invest in Worthwhile Infrastructure
Investing in worthwhile infrastructure is also very important, of course. This doesn’t necessarily mean only making sure you have the best computers on hand or that you’re able to rival NASA with your processing power. Infrastructure can mean outfitting your office in a way that makes use of competent technological innovations to enhance your productivity.
For instance, wireless printers, ergonomic furniture that sustains your health and the health of your employees, comfort or mechanical keyboards to protect finger health, and VoIP headsets to ensure your staff don’t have to keep picking up a phone throughout the day can be tremendously helpful. Ultimately, the need for infrastructure will boil down to exactly your own personal requirements, but that can in itself can pose a problem if we’re not careful enough to manage it. Worthwhile infrastructure, in this light, can be considered a competent and necessary solution going forward.
Utilize Industry-Standard Software
The infrastructure we use is often considered from a hardware perspective, but it’s also something of a software standard, too. It’s best not to try to pinch the pennies and use sub-standard industry software if you’re becoming an outfit, or if you’re offering your own services as an outsourced consultant or professional.
This may involve investing in a subscription to Adobe’s creative suite, or making sure you offer your staff an industry-leading VPN, or using worthwhile communication tools like Slack, adopted by many businesses around the globe. Even little things, like using operating system software designed for business, like Windows Enterprise solutions, can be tremendously helpful. In this light, you can ensure that you never have to worry about your standard being good enough – it will be assured from the very necessary integrations you have made.
To Conclude
No matter if you’re outfitting your business or sole trading enterprise, technological adjustment and adaption is necessary. With disaster recovery, support requirements, the best infrastructure for you and necessary training in place, you’ll be in good hands going forward.
With this advice, we’re sure you’ll avoid IT problems even in a world where technology is money.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.