Depending on what business you are in the start of a new year may be flat out dealing with customers or it may be an excellent time to take stock and evaluate what your business needs to go forward.
As IT demands move at a staggering speed, last year’s tech may not be the best fit for the 2019.
The new year can bring major change to both the business and the environment it operates in. Regulations, contracts and seasonal habits mean that changes and adaptions may need to be made for continued growth.
A smart business knows how and where to change and to be flexible to win more business and adapt to a new environment. As we move into the new year, there are fundamental questions we should ask about our technology to ensure we are ready to tackle the next twelve months too.
Is Your Hardware Up to The Task?
Businesses are often challenged by their client’s demand for files that seem to continually increase in size and resolution. The storage needed to handle and use these every growing files appears to grow at an exponential rate.
The expectation of even bigger data is only set to continue as we progress into another new year. Clients are beginning to expect or even demand, exceptional quality from professional services and with a fast turnaround time too.
These competing demands increase the strain on the network hardware and computing power as much as they do to the physical storage. One of the most important things a business can do when reviewing IT demands is to ensure there are no bottlenecks in overall IT infrastructure.
Are Your Backup Reliable and Ready?
Every business in the modern day should have a backup in place. Whether simply transferring files manually to a backup drive or regularly copying documents over to an external drive or cloud location. However, not every business is regularly testing their backups.
A backup is only as good as to what can be restored from it. Examples have emerged where firms, both large and small, had famously believed they were backing up successfully for months or even years, only to find out their backup was failing when they really needed it.
Whether impacted by missing assets, unable to transfer files or affected by corrupt data, an untested backup can be as useful as not having any backup! A critical goal for the safety and reliability of any business should be to have dependable backups that are tested at regular intervals.
Is Your Compliance Still Up to Date?
A lot of businesses today have compliance and regulations standards they they must adhere to if they are to keep their position in the marketplace. These may be industry specific such as medical, financial or automotive certifications, or country / regional protections such as data protection regulations.
Requirements for each of these areas can change regularly and it is up to each firm to keep on top of both changes to rules.
Changing IT can often impact on certifications in a big way. Many of the requirements feature rules which affect storage, processing, or altering the way in which data is used; thus it is essential to check your usage against any strict requirements that are relevant to your business.
While time-consuming and difficult, these checks require a strong knowledge of both the rules and your IT system. The penalties for failure can be severe and crippling, as such it is a critical area of the firm you can’t afford to get wrong.
If you are looking to increase your business productivity in the new year, check up on your systems and technology, or dust up your certifications to the latest standard: there is never a better time than right now.
If you need any help and are located in South Australia, contact us on either 08 8326 4364 or su*****@dp*********.au to get your new year off to a flying start.