When important tech stops working, it can temporarily bring down your entire business. This period of downtime could be incredibly costly – both financially and reputation-wise. This is why it’s important to take preventive steps against tech-related downtime. Below are a few examples of the steps that you can take.
Invest in good quality tech
While you can save money upfront by buying cheap low quality tech, it will cost you more in the long run. This includes cheap second-hand hardware from unreputable manufacturers, and low quality buggy software. Make sure that you invest in good quality tech with good reviews in order to reduce the risk of future problems.
Have IT support on hand
Having IT support readily available can be useful for helping you to deal quickly with faults and reduce downtime. You could outsource this IT support or hire in-house IT staff. Outsourcing is typically cheaper, but it does mean that much of the support will have to be provided remotely (most problems can be fixed remotely, but some may require in-person support). This is why it could be worth choosing a local company when outsourcing, so that you’ve still got the option of in-person support.
Spot the early warning signs
Many tech disasters can be averted by looking out for telltale warning signs. For example, if you run a coffee bar, it could be important to look out for problems with your coffee machine such as leaks from damaged seals or lack of steam pressure. If you work in an office and rely heavily on your computer, consider looking out for computer-related problems such as slower loading times and a noisy fan. Being able to spot the signs early could allow you to carry out repairs before your tech completely crashes. With enough forward planning, you may even be able to schedule repairs out of work hours so that your company can continue to run smoothly without any downtime.
Keep everything on the cloud
Storing important information on a computer hard drive could result in this information becoming lost if your computer breaks down. While you may be able to fix the machine and retrieve the information, there could be a lot of downtime between the machine breaking and getting it fixed. This is why you should keep important data on the cloud – or at least back it up on the cloud. This data can then be accessed from a different device so that you can continue running your business even if your primary machine is broken.
Know when to buy backup hardware
When it comes to key hardware that your business cannot cope without, it could be worth considering spare equipment in some cases so that you can then continue operating the spare. For example, having two POS displays in a store could not only allow you to serve twice the amount of customers, but could also provide a spare checkout if one breaks down. Of course, some tech could be too expensive or bulky to buy a spare for such as a 3D printer or MRI machine.
Leave a Reply