No matter how modern and efficient your infrastructure may seem, there’s always room for improvement.
Growing means consistently examining your existing data environment for weak spots and asking if the mechanisms you have in place are not only meeting the demands of your business today but also setting you on a path for success in the increasingly multi-cloud-focused future.
Old and unmaintained IT infrastructure will have a negative impact on your business efficiency. Out-of-date computer hardware can’t keep up with software tools and applications that demand more and more computer resources. Consequently, these machines will slow to a crawl, and computer and networking hardware, like all machines, will break down eventually. Powering a business with up-to-date hardware resources will help workers do their jobs faster. Additionally, ensuring that these resources are properly cared for and maintained will secure business operations’ reliability.
Now that business resilience is more needed than ever, it is time to examine your IT infrastructure again and evaluate what needs to be improved to make your company stronger.
BUILD & MAINTAIN A CYBERSECURITY PROGRAM
Despite frequent headlines about security breaches, many CIOs struggle to allocate adequate funds for cybersecurity initiatives. However, cybersecurity is akin to an insurance policy.
Beyond the obvious brand damage, organizations hit by cyberattacks face legal fees, extensive overtime, and challenges meeting deadlines.
A strong cybersecurity program disseminates threat knowledge, implements controls to mitigate risks, and integrates security activities into business processes organization-wide.
IMPLEMENT DATA BACK UP
Data loss has become a seismic challenge for most digital businesses, risking critical files related to client work, finances, and trade secrets. Weeks, months, or even years of work can be disrupted, eroding client trust and impacting revenue.
Backup copies restore data from an earlier point in time to support the business in recovery from an unplanned event.
The key is to store the copy of the data on separate medium to protect against primary data loss or corruption. This additional medium can be as straightforward as an external drive or USB stick, or something more substantial, such as a disk storage system, cloud storage container, or tape drive.
For best outcomes, backup copies should be made on a consistent, regular basis to minimize the amount data lost between backups. The more time passes between backup copies, the more potential for data loss when recovering from a backup. Keeping multiple copies of data provides the insurance and flexibility to restore to a point in time not affected by data corruption or malicious attacks.
ADD SERVER CAPABILITIES
Often overlooked, your business server is likely outdated compared to more visible equipment like towers, laptops, or routers.
By upgrading your servers, you not only bring them up to par with modern technology but also enhance your network’s overall robustness. This upgrade results in greater data storage capacity, essential for managing the ever-expanding volumes of information that businesses handle today. Moreover, it facilitates faster processing power, ensuring that your systems can keep up with the demands of your business environment – which can escalate rapidly.
Don’t overlook your routers—they’re crucial too.
With redundant servers in play, you’re guaranteeing your business stays up and running even if one system falters, dodging any big obstacles that could dent your productivity and profits. Upgrading or adding servers isn’t just a technology upgrade; it’s a smart move to fortify your network’s resilience.
BECOME CLOUD-ENABLED
If you throw a rock into the online conversation, chances are it’ll land on something about cloud computing. But its popularity is warranted: embracing cloud-based services can really transform how companies like yours do business.
Accessing cutting-edge software becomes easier and faster, eliminating the need for physical purchases and installations. Virtual machines can be deployed in mere minutes facilitating additional processing power and storage. Services like Azure also enable you to host websites on a secure cloud server that is overseen by Microsoft and safeguarded by their uptime guarantee, providing companies and their customers with reliable web hosting services.
Moving these items to the cloud also gives companies a competitive advantage by making data, files, and entire machines that were traditionally hosted on-site available over the cloud both off-site and on mobile devices.
CONDUCT AN AUDIT
Conducting an audit helps you identify IT infrastructure shortcomings as well as areas for improvement.
Considering the complexity of information systems and operations today, IT leaders need to demonstrate that their IT environments are running smoothly, performing according to business processes and objectives, minimizing cybersecurity threats, and serving in compliance with standards, regulations, and other requirements.
Periodic audits ensure that your organization is following accepted standards, best practices, regulations, and legislation. You’re examining not only logical and physical security controls but also overall business and financial controls involving IT systems.
AUTOMATE, AUTOMATE, AUTOMATE
Automation has well and truly proven to reduce costs, increase output, and decrease errors. According to the management consulting firm McKinsey, an estimated 45 % of paid work done by employees can be automated by adapting existing technologies. The amount of money and time saved with these technologies – in addition to the ROI – is nothing short of remarkable. With current-generation tools, there is no excuse for not automating a significant amount of your work, either from an operations, processes, or employee output perspective.
Automation ranges from complex, like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) utilizing machine learning to handle various processes, to simple, such as using scripts to automate repetitive tasks like data encoding in Excel. Research shows employees spend 69 days (about 2 and a half months) annually on repetitive tasks, amounting to $5 trillion in lost productivity globally.
Automating these functions doesn’t only build efficiency and reduces errors but it also frees up time for more critical responsibilities.
UPGRADE YOUR TECHNOLOGY WITH YARDSTICK
With our Managed Technology and Services, you can optimize your budget, focus on your business, and always have support at your fingertips. In addition to working tirelessly to provide tailored solutions as your trusted technology partner, we offer proactive measures to safeguard your finances, sensitive data, and business operations. This also includes integrating workflow efficiency, mitigating risks, and embracing scalability and flexibility with automation.
Our team has helped many organizations create and execute their technology vision to go further, faster, safer. From addressing complex challenges to embracing exciting opportunities, clients trust our team’s experience and expertise across managed services, cybersecurity, modern infrastructure, and cloud computing.
To learn more, book a call with our team and we’ll be happy to help you improve your IT services.
