Making solid business decisions can sometimes be confusing. Not that you try to make anything other than good decisions, but a lot of business is, and has always been, trial and error; and, you may know this from experience, error happens to be a big part of it. Today, we thought we would discuss what goes into good technology decisions and how many times it comes down to the results.
How to Make Good Technology Decisions
Making the right decisions in regards to your business’ technology has to do with multiple factors, but one sticks out: What do we do? It seems simple enough, but when you are choosing technology you are probably going to run into technical people that don’t speak your language or salespeople who speak your language a little too well. This will confuse the vast majority of people. It’s not as if there is a guide that can help you match the specific technology to your business; you will have to rely on people to help you do that.
Our consultants at Point North Networks, Inc., understand that there is a balance that needs to be considered when advising our clients on how to make the right technology decisions for them. The balance is between cost/complexity and effectiveness at meeting the goals you’ve set out for your business. Here are a few tips that can help you make the right technology decision, regardless of the situation.
Start with Security
Like any highly guarded place, all technology that you add to your infrastructure has to pass through security clearance. You should start every IT decision with the notion that you need to have the tools in place to protect it. If you don’t, any decisions you make probably won’t help as much as they will hurt.
Be Optimistic, but Prepared
Why else would you make strategic IT investments if not to improve your ability to turn a profit? In that regard, any IT investments you plan should be targeted to solve a problem your business currently faces. That’s not enough, however. To ensure any IT purchase you make works for your business, you need to protect it. That’s why we suggest that if you don’t have a dedicated backup and recovery platform in place, you need to prioritize that before you spend another cent on your business’ IT. A backup system that builds data redundancy and has a cloud-hosted option is the best. Our BDR service utilizes both network-attached backup with a device that uploads your backed up data to an offsite data center. This will help you be prepared for any eventuality and will make any IT investment that much stronger.
Work to Build a Knowledge Base
Another consideration that will help you make the best IT investments is to understand what you are getting into before you get into it. By researching solutions to your business problems you will be able to ensure that any IT decisions you do make are made for the right reasons and that you are getting technology that fits into your business plans. The more knowledge you have about the processes you need technology for, the better and more sound your decisions will be.
Technology can solve a lot of today’s most pressing business problems. If you would like to talk to one of our knowledgeable IT professionals about what technology you should be targeting, how to successfully implement it with the technology you already have in place, or if it’s time to retire a piece of technology, give us a call today at 651-234-0895.
