The owners of growing businesses face a very real challenge where their technology infrastructure is concerned. As your business grows, the IT solutions that once worked so well for you may no longer make sense. Maybe you put a fantastic inventory management system in place that did everything you needed it to do, but that was when YOU had to take care of the inventory. Now you have people for that, many people, in multiple locations…you get the idea. What worked for you yesterday may not work for you today or tomorrow.
As your business grows you need to be sure your IT is growing with you. The implications of letting your technology lag behind your company growth are many—decreased productivity, frustrated employees and, worst of all, inadequate security.
So, how do you keep up? Planning is key! When developing your long-term business plan, make sure you include a technology plan. Does your business plan include the addition of a new location? You better make sure your IT plan includes things like faster internet, firewalls, VPN, etc. Hiring an HR director? You better make sure you have the tools they will need to function effectively.
Security is a big area where you do not want your technology to lag behind. In the beginning when it was just you and maybe a few other key employees, it may have been OK to have all the company data sitting in one place where all employees could access it. That made sense. But now, do all your employees really need access to HR information? Do they need access to all client data? Implementing a “need-to-know” security policy is likely in order.
How about remote access to company information? Do you still have a “wide-open” remote access policy, where all employees have access to company data at all times? Do all your employees really “need” that kind of access? Likely not.
Even if you are not experiencing the type of rapid growth that I am talking about, that is no reason to leave your IT infrastructure stuck in the past. Technology is constantly changing and evolving, and there are newer and better ways of doing things…things that will make your employees more productive, make your corporate data more secure, and save you money. Do you still need that giant server humming in a back room somewhere? Maybe moving some of your critical technologies to the cloud makes sense for you. Still running older Windows XP or Windows Vista computers? Did you know that these operating systems are no longer supported by the manufacturer, leaving your data vulnerable to hackers?
Again, planning is key. Don’t let your technology become one of the “Lost Boys.” Contact IT Radix, and we will help you develop a technology plan that will get that infrastructure out of Neverland and on track for the future.
First published in our July 2017 IT Radix Resource newsletter
