Small businesses often struggle with technology, primarily because they either lack strong IT leadership or they lack the resources to ensure IT maintenance and management happens without a hitch. There are several mistakes that a small business can make when it comes to technology management. Here are four of the biggest and most common that you absolutely cannot afford to make.

Stay Focused

Too many small businesses get caught up in the next big thing, not thinking about whether or not the thing that they are actively implementing is actually needed. The more complicated your network, the more opportunities there are for things to go wrong, be it a security breach, hardware failure, or software complication. And remember, your business should not be implementing a solution that it cannot handle, so ensure that you stay focused on implementing only technology that facilitates your organization’s goals.

Plan for Longevity

Businesses that fail to plan for growth and for the continued success of their organization will inevitably fall behind and fail to sustain continued operations in the long term. Therefore, it makes sense that any technology solution you choose to implement will be scalable to accommodate the future needs of your business. On a similar note, longevity also means planning for the worst-case scenario; you must have solutions like data backup and disaster recovery in place to ensure that your company can complete a speedy recovery when needed. Even if you never need it, it’s better to have it than to regret not having it.

Don’t Skimp on Security

So many small businesses think that they are immune to the dangers that come from cyberthreats. They see the headlines and think, “That’s not me,” or “I’m not a big enough target.” Well, we hate to break it to you, but you are wrong. All businesses have data that is valuable to hackers, be it sensitive personal information, payment credentials, or password credentials. It’s more important than ever to keep your security as optimal as possible; otherwise, you run the risk of crippling security threats compromising your network, interfering with operations, and threatening your organization’s future.

Don’t Wait Until Things Go Wrong

IT maintenance is something that is best kept in a proactive state rather than a reactive one. Many businesses choose to stay with the same old tired strategy of break-fix tech; when technology breaks, they fix it. This is not the correct stance to take in terms of technology maintenance. If you add up the costs of replacing hardware and downtime, you get an astronomical price tag that could easily be mitigated through regular, proactive maintenance. 

Now, we know that not all business owners are technology professionals. We get that, which is why we make it our mission to provide high-quality business technology management solutions that make it easy for you to focus on your day-to-day business operations. By focusing on providing excellence in service, we free up you and your employees to do what they do best. It’s a low-cost, high-reward solution that is sure to bring value to your business.

To learn more about managed IT services, reach out to 415 IT at (415) 295-4898.