Technology Advice To Help You Grow Your Business.
A lot of businesses utilize the quiet time between the Christmas season between Christmas and New Year to look at their operations, identify areas where they need to improve and prepare for the next year. Making investments in technology can aid your business in its growth and allow your employees to be more efficient. We have listed a few of the most important areas in technology to concentrate on in order to help your company run smoothly throughout the coming year.
IT Plan
Set a calendar for 12 months in advance for what you’ll require in terms of hardware as well as applications, security software, and connectivity. It’s tempting to stay reactive to IT problems and address issues as they arise; however, there are cost-savings that come with this strategy, including issues that escalate and cost more to address, slow computers that impact productivity, and faulty computers with security concerns.
By taking proactive steps, you can make sure that computers are maintained, upgraded as needed, new equipment and software installed for new staff members, and IT solutions implemented along with the right training to allow your business to grow.
Budget for technology
Review your business goals and discover what areas you must focus on your IT investments. Do you want your company to be more flexible? Do you require more flexible working hours and is your remote work secure? If you’re expanding, do you require more hardware or better phone systems, as well as improved and faster broadband?
Ask your IT support team to conduct the IT audit to identify the weaknesses in your system and, at most, service your computers to ensure that they function effectively safely and without producing wasted hours of work.
The Cloud
Many businesses are buying goods as a service instead of having to make significant capital expenditures, such as servers on site, which allows small businesses to gain access to IT solutions that were previously available only to larger businesses.
Cloud-based solutions are not just affordable and reliable, they also allow for flexible working, making sure that employees working remotely have access to all the essential documents, work with colleagues, and perform their work effectively.
Managed IT Services
The effective use of technology can have a positive effect on the company, but it’s difficult to assess the negative impacts of a poor IT system and infrastructure. Utilizing IT resources effectively will save you time and money and increase the efficiency of your company.
The Managed IT Service, like the Bronze Plan, will proactively oversee the IT system and take care of it systems, which allows you to continue managing your business with the confidence that your systems run smoothly and safely.
Secure data backup
If you’ve been the victim of a cyber-crime or have a failing hard drive or employees has lost crucial data, having a backup up is the quickest method to restore and the damage can be easily rectified by a current backup. Small businesses often use traditional hardware-based solutions, but they are susceptible to physical harm and rely on the employees who manage them and therefore are susceptible to human errors.
Cloud backup options like Microsoft 365, are more efficient and accessible on any device that is connected to the internet. They is automated to prevent human error and are typically the most cost-effective and scalable solution.
Good quality Email
Email is perhaps the most popular technology used to exchange information in the world of business. An efficient email system that uses your own domain address could create trust and build stronger relations with clients. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online has provided professional email services to companies for years and has a wide array of features and options to let your business communicate effectively and efficiently.
The ability to manage your team and policies will increase productivity while creating groups, aliases and shared mailboxes. It is easy to make sure that users only have to sign up for one account in order to access all the information they require.
VoIP
Voice over IP allows for phone-to-phone online communication as an alternative to an actual landline. Call quality is equally excellent as traditional phones, however, there is huge savings on initial costs as well as monthly charges. Call costs are typically lower, and as a result of using the internet, location is no longer an issue. International and long distance calls aren’t subject to cost-per-minute If all of your employees use VoIP, your internal costs for calls are almost none.
VoIP also comes with additional options like voicemail as well as call divert, forwarding, conference calls, call recording a hunt group (a group of people who are set up to answer calls from incoming calls). VoIP users can also make calls to or be called from traditional landlines. Learn more about the Adept VoIP Plans.
Passwords
With the number of cyber security threats increasing, it is imperative to adhere to good password management practices to prevent your business from being hacked. Utilizing unique and complicated passwords for every account is crucial. If security is a priority for your company, make use of a password manager like LastPass and Roboform.
Anti-virus software
There’s a lot of spyware, adware and malware, so a good antivirus software is a straightforward and essential method of ensuring that your data is secure. Anti-virus software differs in its quality. If you do your study, and we recommend ESET or signing up for the Bronze Plan. Also, seek assistance by contacting your neighborhood IT expert.
IT security policy
Cybercrime has increased, which is why a thorough annual audit of where and how information about clients and companies is stored could result in compliance issues too. Installing safeguards will help stop data theft, fraud, and data theft and boost customer confidence.
With the assistance of an IT specialist, you can conduct an IT security audit of the security of your IT systems to discover weaknesses and gaps, and implement the necessary changes to ensure your company is secure.
Online presence
A rising proportion of businesses now operate online, so if your company does not show up in search results or is not visible through social networks, it is missing out on new prospects. Making sure you have a professional website that ranks highly for your most important sectors of business or has a strong social media presence in the market you want to reach, can increase the value of your business’s performance and give you an edge in the market that can aid in growing your business.