Most businesses view an incoming financial year as an opportunity to assess exactly where they are at in relation to their goals, objectives and targets.
The start of a new financial year is also a chance to explore your company’s current IT infrastructure, ascertaining whether it still meets your requirements or whether you need to strategize a solution to any issues.
Here are a number of burning questions you should ask yourself – and your IT department – throughout July 2013.
1. Is my business best utilising the cloud?
Many businesses have already migrated to the cloud – has yours? With increased flexibility, automatic software updates and the ability to continue to access company data if hardware is lost or damaged, the list of advantages is almost endless. Cloud-based computing also allows employees to work from anywhere, on any device, so long as they have internet access, in turn placing a greater emphasis on a healthy work-life balance.
2. Do I need a server or infrastructure upgrade?
Are your email systems regularly running out of storage space? Are your company’s everyday demands of your server reducing productivity? It may be time to have an overall health check of your systems. The result may be as simple as ensuring current resources are optimised to run as smoothly as possible, or a full refresh targeting your performance issues.
3. Should I explore external hosting?
If your company’s website experiences a high volume of traffic, or you have business critical applications or services that require 24/7 attention and uptime, it may be wise to explore hosting options. The benefits range from the financial – avoiding upfront costs in resources, equipment, space and software – to the overall enhancement to service. By partnering with an experienced external host, your company can be assured of having access to the latest technology and software as well as advanced server security.
4. Why outsource my IT support?
In many cases, outsourcing your company’s IT support can result in continuous savings across the company by no longer paying a salary and benefits to in-house employees. A specialised outsourced organisation can understand your systems and take the stress out of day-to-day management. In addition, you have the security of a knowledgeable team able to seamlessly transition with your infrastructure changes and the benefit of a depth of experience often not available to many organisations.
5. How can IT help me succeed?
One of the most often overlooked reviews of a company’s IT capability is how this can be brought to bear to make your company more agile, more connected with your customers and a better place to work for your employees. All too often, IT is seen as a cost centre or a necessary evil in providing basic capabilities. As the new financial year starts, it is a great time to step back and review whether your IT systems can help you reconnect with customers, provide improved employee engagement and productivity through remote and mobile solutions and reduce the overhead of costly and time consuming manual business processes.
