Your Network Should Grow Alongside Your Business

Businesses invest a significant amount of time and energy into growing their business, but what some organizations don’t understand is that this growth comes with what we like to call “growing pains.” When an organization grows, there are all sorts of problems that must be addressed in order to maintain optimal operations. Among these is your network. Is it ready to handle your organization’s growth?

Here are four of the biggest challenges that a growing business faces.

More Users
An increase in the number of your staff is a sign of growth, but if you’ve doubled your workforce in the past year, your network might have trouble keeping up with the increased traffic. Furthermore, your security solution might be hard-pressed to protect data coming from twice as many access points. Planning for additional users can help you avoid slow network traffic and unsecured access points.

More Devices
Even if your workforce remains the same, their computing methods have probably changed recently due to the influx of new personal devices. For example, the average employee will be equipped with their own workstation, but they might bring other devices with them to the workplace, like a laptop, smartphone, or tablet. Now imagine if every worker in your office does the same; can your network deal with four times the estimated network traffic? Probably not. The best way to prepare for this in your office is to integrate a BYOD policy that helps to accommodate the mobile device trends of a modern workforce. Preferred can help you with this.

Even More “Things”
One of the more significant trends facing the technology industry is called the Internet of Things, which is a collective term for data-collecting devices used for analytical purposes. Examples would be fitness-tracking wristbands or smart watches. The issue that businesses are having is that these devices are now connecting to the company network. NetworkComputing explains the challenge of IoT:

Internet access for everything we touch is an imminent reality. Sooner or later, nontraditional network devices will be more common than traditional devices that plug into the network -- think lighting and security controls, scanners and sensors, even your office coffee pot. These "things" will soon infiltrate the network, hogging bandwidth and using network protocols, which means you need to prepare now for the network takeover of the "things."

It’s up to your business to make preparations for the Internet of Things invasion. Just like the previous two examples, you need to make sure that your network has enough bandwidth to handle the increased traffic. In this case, a security solution is even more important. Since Internet of Things devices tend to communicate with each other, you’ll want to be extra secure from unwanted network traffic from them. Since traditional IT practices tend to target the actions of people, the primary challenge posed by IoT devices is implementing a solid security strategy. If even one of the devices connecting to your network is compromised, you could be in trouble.

Therefore, you’re going to need a network monitoring solution that’s designed for IoT, like what Preferred offers. NetworkComputing explains:

If you're not already, you should be monitoring the network, applications and quality of service, and now is the time to get real control over IP address management as we look towards IPv6 migration, which will be even further hurried by the onslaught of Internet-connected devices.

More Customers
The kind of growth that all businesses want is the kind that makes them profits. Having more customers access your website or call your company with your VoIP solution can place heavy strain on your network, and if you’re a growing business, you’ll need all of the bandwidth you can get to keep up with all of the incoming traffic. What worked for a small business might not be enough for a medium-sized business, and missing out on sales opportunities would be a shame.

The technology professionals at Preferred specialize in helping businesses just like yours discover ways to maximize the efficiency of their IT infrastructure. We do this for your network by designing an IT roadmap specific to the needs of your business, which takes into account the latest trends and projected growth for the next one-to-five years. This makes planning for the future much easier and less terrifying.

To schedule an appointment to create your own IT roadmap, give us a call at 708-781-7110.