Whether a business fails, succeeds, or perpetuates mediocrity is increasingly determined by a company's IT infrastructure. Today, most business objectives are supported by information technology objectives, and failing to achieve these objectives often results in a business's inability maintain success. The good news is that most businesses do not suddenly fail at IT objectives; there are usually signs signaling a potential of failure well in advance, giving businesses a chance to take action before financial loss occurs. According to managed services providers who specialize in information technology consulting, the signs below indicate that businesses should seek out IT consulting before devastating losses.
Data is not Stored Offsite
Research shows that seventy percent of small companies go out of business within two years of experiencing a major data loss. The same can happen to large businesses, but small businesses have a habit of avoiding offsite data storage to cut costs. The importance of data to revenue production proves the axiom that knowledge is power, and the best way for any business-large, midsize, or small-to protect its data is to back it up on a server located offsite.
Spam Floods Email Accounts
Receiving spam as personal email is frustrating, but receiving it as business email can be costly. If your onsite spam filter crashes, your business's email accounts could be flooded with unwanted communications until the filter is fixed-a task that can take hours unless the job is performed by a managed services provider. Because emails from clients can get lost in a sea of spam, pursuing information technology consulting to receive web-based spam protection is the safest move.
No Internal Network Protection
Preventing data theft traditionally focuses on detecting and deflecting third party hacking attempts, but research shows the majority of data theft occurs from the inside, with proprietary data the primary target. If a business's data has financial value, it should implement an internal firewall (perhaps more than one) that detects patterns of questionable activity and prevents the user from violating system rules. No business wants to distrust its employees, and when it implements a strong internal security system, the company should no longer have trust issues.
Unremarkable Network Performance
In-house networks exhibit unremarkable performance (operating slowly, experiencing crashes, not supporting certain application features, etc.) for a variety of reasons, but the problem is typically component-based. For example, the pace at which a department implements new, mission-critical software can outstrip the memory and bandwidth of its server. An information technology system that exhibits unremarkable performance typically gets worse instead of better, and should be examined by an IT service as soon as possible.
Data is not Stored Offsite
Research shows that seventy percent of small companies go out of business within two years of experiencing a major data loss. The same can happen to large businesses, but small businesses have a habit of avoiding offsite data storage to cut costs. The importance of data to revenue production proves the axiom that knowledge is power, and the best way for any business-large, midsize, or small-to protect its data is to back it up on a server located offsite.
Spam Floods Email Accounts
Receiving spam as personal email is frustrating, but receiving it as business email can be costly. If your onsite spam filter crashes, your business's email accounts could be flooded with unwanted communications until the filter is fixed-a task that can take hours unless the job is performed by a managed services provider. Because emails from clients can get lost in a sea of spam, pursuing information technology consulting to receive web-based spam protection is the safest move.
No Internal Network Protection
Preventing data theft traditionally focuses on detecting and deflecting third party hacking attempts, but research shows the majority of data theft occurs from the inside, with proprietary data the primary target. If a business's data has financial value, it should implement an internal firewall (perhaps more than one) that detects patterns of questionable activity and prevents the user from violating system rules. No business wants to distrust its employees, and when it implements a strong internal security system, the company should no longer have trust issues.
Unremarkable Network Performance
In-house networks exhibit unremarkable performance (operating slowly, experiencing crashes, not supporting certain application features, etc.) for a variety of reasons, but the problem is typically component-based. For example, the pace at which a department implements new, mission-critical software can outstrip the memory and bandwidth of its server. An information technology system that exhibits unremarkable performance typically gets worse instead of better, and should be examined by an IT service as soon as possible.