Take a moment and think about the most important day in your business. Was it your launch day? The day you revealed a new product? The day your manufacturing line got a new machine? The day that you closed a huge new account? What would happen if, during your biggest day of your business, your IT systems completely failed you? I’m not talking like – yeah, some things aren’t working. I’m talking catastrophic data loss, complete system lockdown and lack of access. What would you do if that happened? How much revenue would you lose out on? What people don’t realize is that failing to invest in really reliable proactive technology management means you’re essentially gambling. Some people think that they’re not big into gambling, but what else can you call it when you’re investing thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars into the creation or goods and services without having the appropriate measures in place to protect them? Here are just a few reasons why unreliable technology is a dice roll:
- Hackers and Ransomware.
More and more lately we’ve seen businesses of all sizes become infiltrated by ransomware. The ransomware typically comes in the form of a phishing campaign (and believe me, the e-mails are more and more devious at every attempt). Your employee (or sometimes even you), makes the mistake of clicking the attachment – and boom – your entire network is locked down until you pay them the ransom. If you don’t have a business continuity plan, reliable backup strategy, or cloud solution in place – that ransom could put you out of business. Pretty big gamble to take on your livelihood. - Losing out to your competition.
You don’t know what you don’t know. While you’re sitting back doing the same thing you’ve always done, your competition is innovating their technology. They’re taking a look at their processes and implementing software, new equipment, faster workstations and phone systems that can help them be more efficient. They’re boosting customer satisfaction and you’re just doing the same thing. Soon you’ll lose customers to them. That means revenue will be down. Just because you weren’t willing to look at how reliable, innovation technology could change your workflows. - Bottom line impact.
Just because things are going pretty well doesn’t mean that something can’t happen. That aging server, that failed backup, the unreliable printer and workstation that you gave the new guy. All of these things have the ability to seriously impact your bottom line. Whether it’s just from an efficiency perspective or an outright failure perspective – you need to look at your technology as either making you money or costing you money.
The next time you launch that new marketing campaign, release a new product, or have a huge influx of new orders – consider what would happen if your systems went down. You can’t afford to be without your technology systems. Reliable, innovative technology not only puts you ahead of the competition but helps you navigate the threat landscape with ease, improving efficiency and catering to your bottom line along the way. Stagnant technology is a huge risk. Even if you’re a gambler, you don’t want to mess with your livelihood.
