Most of us in the 21st century can’t operate our businesses – or even our lives, for that matter – without technology.
We’re excited when we buy it – because we like having new gadgets – but how many of us truly maintain the tech we’ve invested in? You don’t need the most tech available to run a business, but having the basics is essential, and access to updates are important.
Keeping tech well-maintained, however, is often neglected.
The time or monetary costs stop well-meaning business owners from ensuring the irtech lasts well past its warranty to reduce long-term costs in the future. The same goes for the individual who buys into the latest tech hype. Few invest in the after-care packages, unless insurance is mandatory.
It’s okay if you don’t know how to maintain your tech yourself. Companies like Mustard IT can do it all for you. If you choose to outsource your IT needs, you’d have a team available 24/7 to help you set up and look after your tech, whether as a business owner, a student, or a private individual, hapless with technology or not.
Whether you DIY or outsource your tech maintenance, here are five business-benefiting reasons to look after your tech!
1] Lower your IT equipment costs
By outsourcing technical support, you’ll save on employing someone within your business to do it for you. This person or team would need regular training, and you would have to provide the tools with which your IT staff could do their jobs.
The other option is to outsource contractors instead of paying for salaries and tech. There are companies that can do all the maintenance for you. All you need to do is to contact the right people who can help you manage the (most likely) most neglected part of your business–your equipment, and its insides.
It might seem strange to suggest your costs can be lowered by investing in tech support. The reason this is so is because you would end up spending more long-term if you didn’t service your equipment regularly enough to prevent it from breaking down.
2] Servicing saves you money
For most people, the question is not ‘how often do you service your equipment?’ but ‘do you service your IT?’
It would cost more to buy a new printer or computer in the moment you need it than to have yours serviced regularly. Don’t only think of the replacement costs. Think of the time you lose, the delayed work, and other knock on effects.
If this tech is for your business, you’ll need to invest in updates, as well as updated hardware. Think of 5G technology that needs 5G compatible hardware.It’s safer to service regularly than risk higher costs in the long run. When you need to invest in updated tech anyway, buying replacement tech is avoidable.
3] Combat the slow down
Many of us open page after page forgetting to clear our history. Did you know this can slow your tech down?
When on the internet for long periods, you can amass a lot of files – cache files to be specific – which can eventually be too large for your device to get through.
What it needs is regular maintenance. Cleaning up your history, bookmarking your favourite pages, and closing all the old ones is a start. When your system has less to wade through when you turn your computer on, it works much faster, and is less likely to crash.
4] Clear out the dust mites
No matter how efficient your office cleaning, dust gathers in crevices and corners difficult to reach. Don’t leave it there – get it out!
IT equipment attracts dust through its cooling fan. In damp weather or humid conditions, this dust can turn a bit muddy, which clogs the motherboard and reduces cooling. Overheating won’t just slow it down – it could cause serious damage. To combat the muddy dust mites, regular maintenance is required.
5] Back up for peace of mind
In the old days, we had folders with everything in hardcopy. Only our most precious documents make it in print these days. Using multiple cloud backups is necessary for security and peace of mind.
If you have no idea what ‘the cloud’ means, you’re better off outsourcing to a reliable IT support company. For those who want the knowledge and the support, the cloud is what we call the giant mass of data in servers across the globe.
Some are hosted in the USA, others in Japan, the UAE, or wherever there’s someone who’s invested in the technology needed to store this data. Not only is sufficient, stable electricity a necessity, but data protection laws that exist in the resident country must comply with international privacy and security laws.
When you save something to a cloud, -or box – online, you’re putting your data into a virtual safety deposit box. Unfortunately, the difference between the old ways and new ways opens an avenue for hackers to pull off heists to far more people than they could in the past.
The Responsibility of Tech Ownership
Most people don’t take their online security seriously. This must change sooner rather than later, as the digital world continues to lay its foundations in our daily working lives.
Part of the responsibility in this new working world is to understand how tech works and how to take care of it. Investing in proper security systems and outsourcing technical matters to trusted sources – rather than waiting for it to crash -is part of effective IT management.
Anyone who uses tech must manage it well for its optimum usefulness in our lives. Simply put: if you don’t look after it – it’ll break.
Investing in efficient, effective IT support – whether by making your own department or outsourcing – will help your company thrive in our digital world.
