4 Easy Ways to improve your Business IT in 2021

As New Years resolutions start to wane, we want to call attention to some small things that can make a big impact on business IT. Whether you are working from home or making trips to the office, socially distanced of course, here are 4 easy things to improve your and your employees working experience.

Connectivity

When was the last time you negotiated your internet or phone service contract? If it has been a few years it might be a good time to call and see what they can offer you. Your Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including Comcast or Lumen, might upgrade your modem for free if it is out of date. Even this simple upgrade can help with reliability, security and management of your network at work or at home. The sales folks might even have better offers.  If they made any recent upgrades to their network in your area they might be able to offer better speeds or maybe they have a better price for your current service agreement level. It never hurts to see what is available!

*Some ISPs are providing COVID relief in the form of deferred bills or temporarily reduced costs

Utilize Cloud Services

What are cloud services? A cloud service is any service or application made available to users on demand via the Internet as opposed to being hosted from a company's own on-premises servers. Examples include - Quickbooks Online, Office 365, and Adobe.  Using cloud based services to replace your on premises server saves you in the log run; no expensive hardware upgrades needed every 3-5 yrs and no making sure software and operating systems are up to date for security patches.  All of that is provided for by the cloud service provider. They maintain their servers and provide security updates to applications on an as needed basis all for the cost of your subscription.  

If you already have a subscription, do you know if you are utilizing all that the subscription offers? Many cloud services end up being under utilized because people are not always aware of everything that is offered. Spending a couple minutes looking into subscription offerings may provide some added bonuses!

Get rid of what makes you vulnerable

Anyone still using Windows 7 on their machine? Those machines can actually become security issues! As of January 14th, 2020 Microsoft ended their support of Windows 7 which means they no longer provide security updates or fixes after that date. Users will either need to upgrade to a supported operating system or if their machine doesn't have the specifications for a newer operating system they will need to get a new computer that does.

Recycle

That old pile of equipment in the corner?  The easiest thing you can do is recycle it! There are many companies who will come and collect old hardware from you office and recycle it for you and even do hard drive destruction as part of their service! Let us know if you need a recommendation.

With a few minutes to spare you can make a significant impact on your working environment, and for the environment.  Whether it is recycling, upgrading, reviewing, or checking in, each one can make a big impact on your work environment and business IT. Let us know if we can help or if you have any questions!