Technology Can Help You Ward Off Recession

With months and months of bad news, many businesses are trying to find the right recipe to keep from having to make the hard decisions. Problem is that these hard decisions are looking as if they are going to be inevitable. With costs rising and revenues shrinking, there needs to be a strategic urgency that will allow your business to sustain operations when other companies are laying off their workers and folding into obscurity. Today, we take a look at some of the technology investments that you can make to keep your business afloat during the economic downturn. 

Managed IT Services

We’ll start with our bread and butter. Many businesses that are looking to cut back on their expenses have already moved over to a managed service provider (MSP) in order to reduce their IT support spend. Most businesses today depend on their IT systems, some more than others. If yours is such a business, one of the best ways to cut back on your IT-related expenses is to outsource some or all of the management.

Sure, your business has committed to a certain level of productivity. When your staff was laid off or working remotely, you may have seen the effect it has on your bottom line already, but more likely as things return to “normal” you will see revenues hindered from all types of outside factors and the productivity of your staff may not be your biggest concern. It may be keeping people employed.

Unfortunately, in recessionary times, this isn’t always going to be possible. 

Outsourcing your IT management and support to an MSP can pay big dividends in that you still get the comprehensive IT support your business needs, while cutting back the expense significantly. Moreover, MSPs, like Computerware, excel in keeping downtime to a minimum by constantly monitoring and actively managing all supported technology to ensure that problems are mitigated and downtime is left to a minimum. Moreover, we provide around-the-clock IT support for all of your staff through our help desk. 

When looking to cut costs, maintain support, and still get the IT support your business demands, choosing the right MSP will go a long way toward keeping your IT working for your staff and not the other way around. 

Migrate to the Cloud

Another service model that will be advantageous to businesses that are trying to make moves towards pinching pennies is to migrate some of their internal IT over to the cloud. This goes double for companies that were looking to spend this year’s IT budget on a new hardware refresh. That strategy might not be prudent today, but you still have options.

Most businesses have already embraced cloud computing in one form or another, but many have kept from relying on it to host their central infrastructure. Today, however, there are several cost-effective and secure options that could present companies looking for new hardware a significant capital savings. 

If you consider that a hardware replacement could come with a five-to-six figure price tag (depending on the size of your company), paying for the computing that your company uses in the cloud can be a great short-term sacrifice that will allow you to get through lean times with more of your business’ technology intact. Who knows what your business could achieve if it was able to access any digital resource your business has from anywhere with an Internet connection. Accepting that cloud resources are cost-effective and a great stopgap in times of crisis could be the best decision you make this year.

Security, Security, Security

With so many people utilizing tools they are new to, and with so many threats to navigate, prioritizing your physical, network, and cybersecurity strategies has to be right at the top of your operational list. If revenues aren’t going to grow as expected, you will have to protect what you are able to get. Otherwise, you might as well close your doors today and save yourself the trouble. Let’s take a look at how important each level of security is at this time.

• Physical security - Your business’ physical security has always been a priority, and there is nothing about a recession that should change that. You will want to outfit your business with a digital camera and access control systems to help you monitor, control, and protect your business’ assets. 
• Network security - The priority for your network security is to monitor your network and infrastructure and keep protections up. Solutions such as firewalls, antivirus, content filtering, spam blocking, and remote monitoring tools can ensure that your technology, and your network, is working as intended, removing substantial downtime from the productivity equation. 
• Cybersecurity - Finally, you need to come up with procedures that can protect you from threats coming in from the outside of your network. The name of the game here is to use your network security tools and prioritize training your employees to keep from doing things that would put your organizational technology and data at risk. Make sure each person on your network understands the basics of phishing and can tell spoofed emails from others. Not allowing scammers access to your network is the best way to protect your business’ technology from malware and other problems. 

The world is changing, and your business is going to have to change along with it. Call the IT professionals at Computerware today at (703) 821-8200 to start a conversation that can do a whole lot of good for your business.