How to Tell Your Business’ Technology Needs an Upgrade

Do your employees have a hard time with the technology that you’ve provided them? Are your digitization efforts lagging behind? Are the systems your business is using coming up on their end of support date? Old technology can cause major problems for a business. In this week’s blog, we go through some of the signs that you may need to upgrade your business’ technology.

Your Technology Is Slow

One of the most frustrating things any employee can deal with is a work computer that takes significantly longer than their personal computer to load up and function. The longer a computer is used, the slower it will become. If your computer is approaching the five-year mark and the person using it is constantly complaining that it is a hindrance to their ability to be productive (not to mention run more advanced applications that your business may use), it is probably time to consider an upgrade of that particular machine. 

For more centralized computing, you should keep in mind that we recommend that you start considering your server refresh at the four-year mark. While you can probably continue using that technology for years after that, you need to start considering a server upgrade because it takes some time to pull the trigger on large technology expenses and services. 

Your Company Is Growing Fast

If your company is experiencing a boom in growth, getting technology into your employees’ hands comes with the territory; and, it can start to become an issue. Not only do your employees need different types of technology, as your business grows this will become an even bigger issue, as presumably the array of different job-related tasks will diversify. 

Another issue is that if you’ve found success with older software (often called legacy), you may find it more difficult to purchase new hardware that is compatible with the older software. Of course, there are options to rent server space in the cloud to accommodate this demand, but there are other issues you then have to consider. Most businesses that maintain an upward trajectory find ways for their technology to grow with their business. 

You Have a Remote Workforce

Managing a remote workforce is a lot different than managing people that come to a central location five days a week. It becomes an issue to get everyone on your team the technology they need. In this case, obtaining resources in the cloud makes a lot of sense. Today, you can get nearly any computing your company needs through cloud-hosted offerings. 

Since the average cloud platform cuts computing and support costs by around a third, it creates a situation where an organization that has distributed employees will prioritize cloud computing due to the ease in which they can deploy required resources, the ability for access from nearly anywhere, and the built in management and support that you get when you purchase SaaS applications.

Ultimately, new technology can allow you to do more, build a more efficient and productive business, and do so with whatever workforce you feel comfortable utilizing. At Preferred, our IT experts can help you procure and integrate your new technologies and help you manage your entire business IT infrastructure. Give us a call today at 708-781-7110 to learn more.