Ring in the New Year with New IT
For many of us, 2021 can’t come soon enough, and we're hoping next year will be a better one. One way to get the best start in the new year? Take the time now to review business technology. There are several areas that you might improve to support 2021 success.
Update your website
First, look at your website. In this digital age, your business website is your calling card to the world. It is where your prospects and customers will go to learn more and buy your product or service. Yet many business websites are at least a few years old. That won’t do these days. Whether you’re a B2B or B2C, your buyers are making a decision about your brand based on your website. If your website looks a decade old, they’re going to doubt you’re on top of your game.
When reviewing your website, priorities should be:
Ease of site navigation – people have a low tolerance searching for information online;
Mobile responsiveness – depending on industry, more than 60% of website visits are from mobile devices;
Call to action – you’re making it clear what you want people to do on your site;
Visual appeal – if it doesn’t look good, your credibility will be damaged;
Search Engine Optimization – are you doing all you can to get people to your site?
Security – customers care more and more about data security and privacy.
Updates in the Office Environment
Of course, there are still people who will pick up a phone and call a business. Traditional phone systems are the reliable business workhorse. But settling for a plain old phone system could mean you’re missing out on a lot. Modern digital phone systems offer you access to a wide range of useful features. With a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone system, businesses of any size can get enterprise-level features. These include:
• Interactive voice response (IVR) systems (e.g. "Press 1 to speak to sales, 2 to speak to tech support … etc.”;
• Call queuing that helps distribute incoming calls to the right party;
• Call recording that helps you track compliance, and provides training and sales script intel;
• Local phone numbers, free in-network calling, and consistent international-rate plans.
Also in the office, there may still be employees signing in to desktop workstations running Windows 7. This operating system reached “end of life” on January 14, 2020. That means Microsoft is no longer updating the software. Hackers know that, too, so sticking with the old system could make you vulnerable to cyberattack.
COVID-19 prompted businesses that might have been putting off cloud migration to move up their timetable, but some use virtual private networks or other remote access to enable work from home. It doesn’t look like we’ll be back in the office full-time, full-force at the outset of 2021, so this is also a good time to revisit the idea of cloud computing.
Your IT budget in 2021
Businesses have been forced to use 2020 as an evaluation period to understand changes that must be made to keep up with new customer demands and adapt to the “new normal”. In the digital age we live in, people and businesses heavily rely on technology to help them fulfill needs and desired outcomes.
Consider digital transformation as a requirement for businesses today
A company’s competitive advantage comes from its capacity to innovate. With 2020’s IT budgets largely reconfigured to address challenges associated with the pandemic, CIOs must look to 2021 spending as they consider digital transformation initiatives. The pressure is on to make a compelling case for technology budgets in 2021.
Adopt cloud services
Cloud services refers to IT services, infrastructure and applications accessed via the Internet. It can include virtualizing servers/networks/desktops, business software, mobile applications, email services, data storage and online backup, and other services which, if combined with a managed platform, are fully monitored/managed and delivered from a secure and reliable location. Companies benefit from adopting a cloud platform because it offers “anywhere, anytime access” to conduct business.
With many businesses mandating that portions (or all) of their workforce work remote during the current pandemic situation, cloud services are crucial to ensure employees can be productive and collaborate. Whether collaborating on projects, engaging with customers or managing business operations, cloud serves is the foundation to enable all these job functions to be conducted remotely and efficiently.
Have properly managed IT services
Businesses of every size need IT support. You may have some dedicated IT staff, however internal IT staff are often overstretched or do not always possess the expertise required to manage various technologies. While it is tempting to keep everything internal, modern cloud, mobile, and IoT computing make the need for properly managed IT essential to businesses of any size. This does not necessarily mean completely outsourcing your IT, as many do, but many businesses choose to augment their current IT staff to add the needed expertise or handle IT help desk requests.
Build strategic initiatives from the ground up
As you plan your budget, you need to place yourself in the position of a board member. Capex is intrinsically linked to long-term business goals and adopting a framework for understanding capex helps to create a compelling budget presentation.
Build long-term goals into the culture of your team: Have them focus on delivering value, not simply performing day-to-day operations
Consider capex for your projects early on: IT must build frameworks that detail how timelines around capex are created by using similar metrics to operational expenditures (opex) budgets.
Analyze projects and assets risks: gather input from key stakeholders across your organization to tease out areas of an initiative where you may be biased. CFOs will want reassurances that proposed IT investments will provide value and improve efficiency.
Make your business secure in 2021
Start the new year off right with a resolution to make your business IT more secure. This could mean embracing two-factor authentication as an upgrade to password-only authentication.
Encourage employees to change their passwords. Most people have dozens of online accounts but only two or three unique passwords. So, it’s a good idea to require your people to update their passwords regularly. That way, if a site such as LinkedIn suffers a data breach, you aren’t vulnerable because of an employee’s duplicated password.
End-of-year downtime provides an opportunity to review any long-standing IT problems. Evaluate how much time or productivity was lost in 2020 while troubleshooting IT. It’s also a good idea to proactively plan your backup strategy and set up for disaster recovery. That way, if the worst does happen in 2021, you’re ready.
Keep your business secure and up to date with the help of a managed service provider. We’ll make sure you’ve got the best technology for your needs. We manage and monitor your IT tools, too.
The biggest technology trends that you can expect in 2021
Last but not least, we found an article at Forbes.com that might be helpful to understand what kind of new technology comes with 2021, and how 2020 has affected us to do a lot of things more efficiently and safely. Below there’s a quick list which summarizes some key pieces of information that you should know prior to making any IT decisions for the coming year. If you have time to read the full article, here’s the source link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2020/09/14/the-5-biggest-technology-trends-in-2021-everyone-must-get-ready-for-now/
Artificial intelligence (AI): The volume of data we are collecting can only grow and machine learning algorithms will become better informed and increasingly sophisticated in the solutions they uncover for us.
Robotics, drones and vehicle automation: Driving efficiency across public transport networks will be a priority for service providers as well as civic authorities, where reducing human labor costs will help balance the uncertainty around customer demand.
The As-a-Service revolution: Thanks to cloud offerings from companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and ever-growing startups, innovators in all fields can deploy cutting-edge tech with little upfront investment in tools, equipment or specialized people.
5G and enhanced connectivity: In short, 5G and other advanced, high-speed networks make all of the other trends we discuss here available anywhere, any time.
Invest in the future today. You stick to what you do best, and our experts will focus on your IT. Contact us at (305) 400 0992!