Is your IT System missing these 4 essentials?
Complex does not equal good. Especially not in IT.
Yes, you need your IT system to be sophisticated, but that doesn’t mean complicated. Fast food burgers have 72 ingredients. Steak tartar has two.
You can acquire systems and bolt on new software, and it can feel like you are keeping up with your business IT needs. The trouble is, having lots of systems can make it seem as though your IT System needs are being met, but there can easily be blind spots. There might be a function that you need, that none of the systems is providing. Or, your systems might not integrate very well, so using them all could be awkward or time-consuming for your teams.
The way out of that is to focus on the basics. There are four things that your IT needs to do, and do well, and if you want effective IT, get these four ingredients right first.
- Infrastructure
- Security
- Flexibility
- Communication
Infrastructure
Arguably, this is the most fundamental of all the fundamentals — how are your systems built and how do they connect?
How you choose and arrange your infrastructure can affect how everything runs. That includes everything from digital storage like databases, to hardware like computers and printers.
For example, you have the choice of cloud servers, physical servers, or hybrid servers. Each version suits different businesses, and the right one for you will vary based on your size, your growth, and your sector.
Security
The chances that you will face a cyber attack are high — the average business faces approximately 300 attacks every year.
A data breach costs an SME (on average) £11,000. GDPR fines and or lost working hours add up very quickly.
Broadly, you’ll want two types of defence, which are the classic combination of prevention and cure. You may not always be able to keep attacks out, so you will want to limit the damage of whatever gets past your security.
Certain sectors will face particular kinds of threats more often than others, and your business might well have unique weak points that need reinforcing. It takes a lot of cyber security experience to be able to identify those weaknesses, and external IT support can make the difference between catching and missing your vulnerabilities.
Flexibility
When you add new systems to the IT mix, you should do that with great care. It’s tempting to see a cost-effective programme that ticks the boxes for your latest needs, but there’s more to think about. How will this new system relate to your existing programmes? Will they integrate or operate separately? If all of your programmes are too rigid, they can’t adapt to work efficiently together.
There’s also the flexibility that hybrid work demands. Workers need remote access, and that needs to be reliable and secure. For example, it improves safety and convenience if employees don’t have to carry a laptop around with them. You might use a Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) system so that any computer can act as a work computer.
Communications
Team meetings, client meetings, and sales meetings are all completely reliant on connectivity. We work much differently than we used to, only a few years ago. Remote and hybrid work is the norm. It’s also time-efficient to be able to hold meetings via video call rather than having to travel.
However, if remote connectivity doesn’t work properly, it’s frustrating and inefficient. Aside from the poor impression it can leave on your clients and your prospects, communication struggles slow projects down. It may just be a minute or two here and there, but you can end up losing precious productive hours when it all adds up.
We’ve been making business IT systems work for over 30 years. It doesn’t matter whether you know what’s wrong or you don’t — we’ll fix it.
Find out if you’ve got the four business IT essentials — get your free IT Health Check here.
Or, if you already know that something needs to change, get in touch to speak to a local IT specialist. It’s 01268 288100 or [email protected]