Today’s businesses all use information technology to a certain degree, mostly because it can make operations faster, smoother, and more efficient. That is assuming that there are no IT issues to deal with, as those can grind operations to a halt, and can be costly to maintain. This represents a real problem for small businesses on a limited budget, and their goal often becomes to avoid some of the common IT issues that can affect the way they operate. Let’s take a look at the 6 most typical small business technology issues often faced.
Issues with Integration
Technology is constantly evolving, but adopting those new systems can mean encountering issues when trying to integrate them with your existing set-up. Double date entries and laborious searches for information are often the result if there has not been some thorough planning done before the implementation of new technology takes place.
Disaster Recovery and Backup Issues
Mistakes and accidents can happen, with server crashes, accidental file deletion, power outages, and other data disasters all just a moment away. This is why it is so important to have a reliable backup and disaster recovery plan in place. Being prepared for these sorts of events means being able to rectify them quickly, and without incurring downtime and big financial hits.
Failure to Address Root Causes
IT departments and providers usually have a process in place that allows them to track issues and identify problematic trends. Being able to identify those trends is often all it takes to find a problem that is bigger than it may appear. Getting to the root cause of repetitive issues can make sure that said problems are permanently dealt with.
Security Risks
It used to be that hackers mostly went after larger entities, but more and more, they are now turning their attention to small businesses. Your company computers store a lot of delicate information, such as personnel records, customer information, and more – and those are all very valuable to the criminal element. It pays to have a suite of IT security procedures and solutions in place, and it really doesn’t have to put any sort of strain on your budget.
No Strategic IT Planning in Place
Far too often, there is a disconnect between business leaders and the IT department. It is the job of those leaders to set goals that will help the business grow, but they sometimes fail to realize the role that IT plays in making it all happen.
For example, let’s imagine that a company has a 5-year plan in place to steadily expand and grow their operations. How much smoother would that growth be if IT were kept in the loop and allowed to create an infrastructure that was specifically designed to handle that level of long-term growth?
Not Fixing Until It’s Broken
People routinely go to their doctor for check-ups, or take their car in for regular maintenance, because they know that they can avoid bigger issues by doing so. Small businesses fail to adopt that strategy when it comes to IT, oftentimes waiting until something breaks before looking for a fix that ends up being costlier and more time consuming. Regularly scheduled maintenance is a cheaper, more effective way to handle your IT.
Read our article on Ways to Keep your Company’s Data Secure
