All companies face common IT problems, and some solve them — good firms even solve them correctly. Make 2017 the year you examine your specific situation and make sure you are prepared.
1. No Business Continuity
This isn’t just backing up your data, but examining your real need around business continuity. Learn the acronyms RTO and RPO, and decide how long you can be down and how much data you can lose.
You will lose data — everyone does unless it’s protected. Servers go down and even cloud providers fail. Remember, the Cloud is just someone else’s computer, which is also prone to breaking.
Is your business interruption insurance up to your currents needs? You have examined your renewal policy, right?!
Also, what about protecting your email, PBX, and Internet circuit? Your employees can’t do their job if your fast connection goes down and your “backup DSL” kicks in. If the speed of the backup circuit was really enough, why did you buy the faster pipe in the first place?
2. Not Replacing Aging Hardware
Sometimes we laugh inside when a client tells us they don’t want to replace a 7-year-old desktop because it still works good enough. Does it really? Of course, we understand and respect budgets and cash flow, but we also notice when everyone has the latest smartphone. This is when we question the allocation of those limited resources. So should you.
3. We Don’t Need IT Process, We’ve Got an IT Person.
You don’t? Have you determined the loss in productivity by waiting for “Johnny Ponytail” to show up after three days to fix something in 15 minutes? What if Johnny (or Janey) decides to go on vacation? Are they handing your passwords over to a trusted friend who can step is as needed? That’s just crazy to us.
Is your single IT person staying trained, attending manufacturer conferences, and offering you best in breed solutions, or simply what is on sale at the local warehouse club?
Note – we are not knocking Costco, those $1.50 hot dogs are killer!
Want some help with any of this? Find a good IT service provider, there are plenty around, and we are one of them. Stop banging your head against the wall because the wall just silently laughs back.
Agree or disagree? I want to hear it!
Have a great new year.
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