Avoid These 3 Common Small Business IT Growing Pains

As we referenced in our last blog, failure to invest in IT early is one of the common reasons startups fail. We’ve seen that as a small company grows it is bound to make some mistakes along the way, but many times, the most critical (and costly) growing pains are IT-related. More often than not, this occurs because smaller organizations lack IT resources. Combine that with the need to place their energy on keeping the business running, and you may well have yourself some technology growing pains.

With that in mind, here are a few steps you might want to consider to avoid these pains:

• Your data’s important. Make sure you back it up. Bad things happen, and you could become a victim of a server crash, fire, flood or cyberattack. Thus, you need to make sure that your data is secure, which means regular and frequent backups. A cloud-based or hybrid approach is the solution of choice for many small businesses. Backups can be automated, easily scale as needed, and keep your data offsite, safe and sound.

• PC’s are like cars. At some point, it doesn’t pay to keep them going. Once a PC has been in action for more than a few years, and needs major repairs that may end up costing you half of what a replacement will, it’s time to think of investing in new gear. A repair or upgrade may cost you less in the short run, but over time costs can really add up if you need to keep fixing it. Replacing the computer brings with it a number of benefits, more powerful equipment can improve productivity, and you’ll also be able to use newer software and peripherals that wouldn’t work with your old gear. Keep in mind that some repairs make more sense than others. Adding RAM or a new hard drive to boost performance or storage capacity may well work out; replacing a dead motherboard, not so much.

• When you do dispose of old hardware, proceed with caution. Those old PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets are likely to hold sensitive company data. If your gear falls in the wrong hands, you could find yourself with legal or compliance problems. Wipe your old data out, check out this article you might find helpful when considering recycling your old hardware. Once you’ve taken care of your data, you’ll need to find a way to safely dispose of your old equipment, which is likely to contain materials harmful to the environment. So no tossing old gear in the dumpster, instead, consider selling it (directly, or through a service like Gazelle), or donating it to a charity like ComputersWithCauses.

Sound IT practices like these will better support you as you grow. The sooner you begin to implement them, the better.