Information technology plays a critical role in your overall organization. You rely on your information technology to keep you in communication with your partners, colleagues, and customers while enabling you to complete a range of tasks. Virtually all departments within your organization leverage information technology to some degree – and in many ways, the right information technology can make a world of difference when it comes to streamlining time-consuming processes, improving collaboration amongst team members, and overall, helping you remain profitable and successful.
Now that the end of the year is coming, it’s time to start your business technology planning for 2020. Here’s a handy end-of-year checklist to help you avoid budgeting challenges and conflicting priorities that slow your execution time down and lower your return on investment:
First and foremost, evaluate your wireless network to ensure it’s as fast and reliable as you need it to be. A lot of hardware, software, and other equipment relies on your Internet connection so make sure it’s up-to-par for the best possible environment.
Next, it’s time to take a look at your hardware and equipment. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, for instance, are unsupported come January 14, 2020. This means they will no longer receive security patches and updates to stay secure.
Software has come a long way – offering features and capabilities for virtually all areas of the business. You can leverage software programs to make your workflows and processes much more efficient, including accounting, marketing, human resources, word processing, and more.
Every business needs a data backup and business continuity plan wherein data is backed up in two places: an onsite appliance and the cloud. This ensures recoverability in the event of a disaster that takes down the network and/or destroys important information.
If your website is constantly going slowly or crashing, your company’s reputation will take a hit. The same goes for your email as prospective and current customers expect a quick response in today’s hyper-competitive, highly responsive marketplace.
Take a look at your cybersecurity measures. Do you feel as though you’re protected as much as possible against threats? You should have a multi-layered approach that includes firewalls, anti-virus software, web content filtering, intrusion detection software, and more.
Traditional business telephone services can be quite costly, but VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) can significantly reduce the cost by as much as 50% as you’re able to make and receive calls over the Internet while leveraging enterprise-grade features.
Lastly, after you’ve reviewed all of the individual pieces of your infrastructure, it’s time to think about whether or not you have a trusted technology partner to manage it. This is especially important if you do need to make changes in the upcoming year.
Start Your Business Technology Planning for 2020 with the #1 Richmond IT Services Company: The HelpDesk Company. Let Us Be The Last IT Partner You Will Ever Need, give us a call at (804) 282-2282!
