The world of IT is an ever-evolving landscape that is crucial to any business’ success and prosperity. The average Australian business invests only 2.4% of their total expenses on IT – but is this enough to keep their IT environments modernised and in keeping with the digital age?
However, many organisations have found themselves in a situation where their IT environment has been poorly designed and is unable to keep up with the demands of the modern world. This can lead to many issues and harsh realities for the business, such as costly downtime, lack of scalability, and inadequate security.
To ensure that your business is able to survive and thrive in the digital age, it is essential to identify and address these issues before they become severe.
Costly downtime
A well-designed IT environment will be able to keep your business running at all times, even in the event of a disaster. However, a badly designed IT environment is much more likely to cause costly downtime. If your business’ tech isn’t up to scratch, there’s a risk that a sudden spike in demand, poor network connectivity, or even a simple hardware failure could cause your service to go down.
To avoid downtime, it is crucial to have enough capacity in your network and hardware to handle sudden spikes in demand. This includes keeping an eye on your network traffic to identify areas of high demand and keep an eye on your hardware to make sure that you have enough capacity to meet demand. It is also essential to have a reliable disaster recovery plan in place in case of a major disaster that would cause extended downtime.
Lack of scalability
When your business’ tech is poorly designed, it is likely that it will not be able to scale with your business. This may result in your IT no longer being able to support your growing business, having to pay for more powerful hardware that does not meet your needs, or an inability to scale your service as demand increases.
These are all costly problems that can easily be avoided. When planning your IT, it is essential to take scalability into account. This means ensuring that your hardware is powerful enough to handle your current needs, but not unnecessary for the long-term.
Choose software that has the ability to scale up and down as needed and hardware with enough headroom to handle future demand without being unnecessarily powerful.
Weak cyber security
Security holes, such as outdated software and insufficient network security, can lead to severe issues within your business, such as data loss or theft, breaches, and cyber-attacks.
To strengthen your cyber security and protect your business, adopt the right software that contains security fixes and ensure you have a reliable, up-to-date security strategy. It is also crucial to ensure that all of your employees are educated on security best practices, such as avoiding the use of unsecured networks, and keeping software and operating systems fully up-to-date.
Unreliable data backups
An inadequate data backup strategy puts your data at risk of being lost in the event of a disaster. This is a major problem, as data loss can result in a huge amount of lost productivity, frustration among employees, and costly data recovery.
When planning your IT, it is critical to select hardware and software with a reliable data backup system. This includes hardware with data backup capabilities, such as external hard drives and network-attached storage (NAS) devices, and software that allows for periodic backups, such as Microsoft Office 365. It is also crucial to regularly test your backup system.
Poor user experience
A poorly designed IT environment is likely to have issues such as high latency and poor network connectivity that result in a poor user experience. This leads to frustration among your employees, disconnected work culture, and lost productivity.
It is essential to take these issues into account when planning your IT and choosing hardware that is designed to provide a great user experience. Poor network connectivity is a common issue with both wired and wireless networks, but can be easily resolved by choosing the right hardware. It is also crucial to choose the right software that is designed to work with the hardware you have selected.
Overload of legacy IT
Legacy systems make it difficult to implement new technologies, such as cloud computing, advanced cyber security tools, and automation.
When planning your IT, it is crucial to make an effort to future-proof your systems to ensure that you are able to embrace new technologies. This includes choosing software that is compatible with upcoming technologies, or will work for your business’s specific needs.
Lowered productivity
Slow networks and devices, incompatible technologies, and outdated software and hardware that is not user-friendly will inevitably lead to a loss of productivity. Waiting for programs to load or save is an inefficient use of employees’ time, and can become an inability to work remotely.
Your IT environment should be user-friendly and efficient. This may require regular training sessions for your employees so they can raise any issues they have been having, or learn shortcuts with the programs you use.
Design the ideal IT environment with expert help
The right IT setup will allow your people to work smoothly and happily, with tech that supports them and your business needs.
The IT experts at Steadfast Solutions can help you find the IT needed so your business will be able to avoid these harsh realities and thrive in the digital age.