Technology mistakes cost businesses big, and they can also keep them from experiencing growth, staying relevant, and realizing their full potential. The upside? Some of the most common tech mistakes that businesses make are also the easiest to fix. If you are still limping along with any of these misguided practices, it may be time for a change.
1. You’re stuck on the ground: When talking about tech its good to start thinking about the cloud. Large cloud providers offer benefits through infrastructure, data access from anywhere, and higher levels of service. When companies move to the cloud they save money by moving off of their dated premise equipment and enjoying the benefits of strong security and the technical expertise of cloud providers.
2. Your single password is the name of your pet: If your skipping the regular password updates and two factor authentication, you’ve saved about 90 seconds of your life-while making your business a sitting duck. A wide variety of small business oriented dual factor authentication methods allow users to utilize a password as usual, but go one step further to force the user to confirm the login via a text message or phone call.
3. You’re the expert that knows everything: Technology is highly dynamic. That means that training within a company must continually evolve. The only way to stay on the cutting edge of the technological evolution is to routinely sharpen the blade. Give your staff and yourself as much training as possible, not only on new technologies, but on systems currently in use as well.
4. You think your smarter than robots: More businesses every day are jumping on the artificial bandwagon and for good reason. AI can help optimize business operations, sift through huge amounts of data, and capture information that can help you make better decisions. Businesses are already taking advantage of the benefits of AI with chat-bots, personal shoppers, big data analysis, marketing research, and more.
5. You think you are immune to the ‘blue screen of death’: If you have ever lost a work presentation right before a big meeting, you understand the importance of data backup. However, a recent Carrier Access Report found that a whopping 75 percent of small businesses still don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place. In fact only 25 percent of small businesses are entirely confident that their data could be restored if it were destroyed or stolen. Best practices encourage you to set up data backup for your business, verifying mission-critical information is included in that backup, and perform tests periodically to make sure you can restore your data successfully.
Outdated technology practices will keep your company mired in competitive quicksand. To return your business to solid ground, begin by addressing these five tech mistakes.
