Owning a business is tough work. Having to manage multiple different aspects of your business can be difficult unless you have dedicated personnel, and it’s also challenging to manage processes that you might not be very well-versed with. For instance, IT infrastructure is often one of the most poorly-managed aspects of a business regardless of its size and this can lead to some negative effects that will drag a business down.
In this article, we’re going to talk about five of the main issues that you’ll experience with a poorly-managed It infrastructure.
1. Your Technology Will Weigh Down Your Business
Technology in the business should exist to optimize and improve your processes. If it’s not being used effectively or correctly, then it can create long-term issues that will only increase your operating costs and cause more issues. If your IT infrastructure isn’t set up correctly then you’ll start to realize that your technology only adds complications and doesn’t help to actively improve your business.
It’s important to examine all of the different technologies that your business uses on a daily basis to see what can be optimized and what’s causing issues instead of being helpful. This can include different types of software you use, the hardware you’ve purchased and even the peripherals that you have. Most of this will come with experience as you use the technology, so make sure you speak to your employees to see what could be improved or consider hiring a professional IT company to help you optimize your IT infrastructure.
At the end of the day, technology should be used to boost your business and give your employees more options to work quickly, efficiently and at a lower cost. If your technology is costing you a lot of money but offering no tangible improvements to your workflow, it needs to be dealt with.
2. Your Team Will Be Unproductive
Your team should be doing work, not waiting around for hardware to work again or someone to visit and repair their systems. If your IT infrastructure is poorly managed, then downtimes are going to be incredibly unproductive and it will prevent your team from getting any kind of work done. Whether it’s a lack of updates for their productivity software, constant disconnections from the internet or issues with the office network that prevent them from collaborating on work, any kind of IT-related issue will reduce your team’s overall productivity. This translates directly into lost profits, time and an increase in frustrations.
In short, poorly-managed infrastructures are difficult to work with, sluggish and will generally make your team less efficient. If you put more effort into optimizing your IT-related processes, then you’re going to see a huge difference in terms of productivity.
3. Your Customers Are Also Affected
It’s not just your team that is affected by downtime and an inefficient IT infrastructure either. Your customers will also feel the same effects, especially if you offer some kind of service over the internet to them. For instance, if your website goes down or your ordering process experiences some issues because of the way your infrastructure is managed, then it could spell disaster and result in massive profit losses.
A well-managed IT infrastructure will ensure that all of your systems are functioning correctly so that you can manage customer requests, help them with support queries and also ensure that the systems they use are operational. Any downtime that you face will translate into a poorer service for your customers, hence the importance of a well-managed IT infrastructure.
4. Your Team Morale Drops
There’s nothing worse than watching your team sit around and do nothing when there’s important work to be done. A poorly-managed IT infrastructure will result in a lot of downtime which means that your team will be behind, they’ll need to pull overtime to catch up and it can be incredibly stressful trying to work with technology that just doesn’t agree with them. It can feel like you’re making no progress whenever a technical issue arises and there’s far too much at stake for your business to just ignore them.
If your team is constantly facing interruptions then their morale is going to drop. If it gets bad enough, they might not turn up for work or could even get so frustrated that they’ll look for another job. IT infrastructure is an incredibly important component of your business and if it’s mismanaged, it’s going to destroy any kind of positive office culture that you’ve built.
5. You’ll Experience Higher Operating Costs
Lastly, a poorly-managed IT infrastructure will end up costing your business a lot of money. It will cost more money to repair hardware, it will cost money to recuperate losses because of a software or network failure, and that downtime translates directly into lost profits. Failing to communicate with customers due to an IT-related issue can also lose customers, resulting in a huge profit loss for your business.
Immediate repairs can also be very costly. If you don’t have a contract with a managed IT services company then it’s going to be expensive to replace single pieces of hardware and onsite service fees for third-party repair or maintenance companies can be incredibly high. If you want to ensure that your business runs smoothly with predictable operating costs, then it pays to get in touch with a managed IT services company that can offer you a consistent level of quality in terms of maintenance. Not only will you fix issues more efficiently, but you’ll also get great advice on how to optimize your IT infrastructure to reduce the chance of failure in the future.
All of these issues can be dealt with by paying more attention to your IT infrastructure and managing it correctly. This can be achieved by either hiring a dedicated IT technician, which isn’t a viable option for smaller businesses or hire a managed IT services company that you can call whenever there’s an issue. Not only will they fix problems, but they can also help you optimize your processes to ensure that your business runs smoothly at all times.