Is It Time To Review Your Business Technology?
Many small to medium-sized businesses don’t have the resources to check, run and maintain their IT infrastructure.
Review Your Business Technology
When you’re wearing several hats, and juggling many jobs, you don’t have the time to assess whether your technology is working the best it could for your business.
However, a regular technology review could save you money and time in the long-run. Today, we’re walking you through why taking a closer look at the technology you’re using in your business is so important.
What is a technology business review?
A technology business review reveals the strengths and weaknesses of a company’s IT framework. It’s often done by a third-party IT consultant who gives an objective assessment of your technology and provides recommendations, help, and suggestions for improvement to help companies meet their goals and targets.
However, it can be carried out by a member of your team, or by yourself, as long as you remain objective.
The real benefit of hiring an IT consultant is their knowledge about what tech is out there and how you could be using it to work more efficiently. IT consultants check whether any of your tech/apps are outdated, your cybersecurity is up to scratch and if the hardware you work with every day could be performing better. Technology business reviews offer critical insight into companies’ systems, so they can make necessary adjustments to improve productivity.
Like with anything, having a deeper understanding of your business and the technology you use, helps you make the right decisions when investing in applications, programmes and equipment, in turn, saving you money, increasing your security and boosting your productivity.
Save money.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), 85% of enterprise decision-makers say they have a time frame of two years to make significant inroads into digital transformation or they will fall behind their competitors and suffer financially.
Start with a cost-benefit analysis of your IT infrastructure and determine whether the technologies, management, and maintenance fees are worth the continued investment.
If the technologies are costing too much or not worth the money, it may be worth cutting them from your budget and looking for cost-effective alternatives.
Increase Security
During this process, you may uncover security risks within your business.
The Cyber Security Breaches Survey found that 31% of micro and small businesses identified breaches or attacks. Among the 31%, 19% lost files or network access, 10% had their website slowed or taken down and 9% had software or systems corrupted or damaged.
Taking a closer look at your current antivirus, malware protection and cybersecurity processes may show up weak spots in your security, which can be compromised and exploited by cybercriminals.
If you’re working with an IT consultant, they should be able to provide a robust cybersecurity strategy. From here, you’ll be able to choose the right tools and techniques to restrict unauthorised access, hamper breaches and protect personal data.
Increase productivity
A study of 2,000 office workers found they typically spend around two hours each day browsing their inbox. However, around half of this time is wasted by re-reading old messages, needlessly checking for updates and sending emails to colleagues when it is easier to speak to them face-to-face.
Your technology review should explore which processes are the most time-consuming. From here, you can make informed decisions on what you may need to change.
For example, if your team mainly shares files via email, consider swapping to OneDrive or GSuite. Meanwhile, if you find your employees waste a lot of time in meetings, consider switching to Microsoft Teams, Slack or Asana to collaborate and discuss important topics.
Again, if you’re working with an IT consultant, they should be able to look at your business and its needs and advise you accordingly on how to speed up tedious processes.