What a Technology Assessment Will Tell You About Your Business
A technology assessment will tell you where your IT is lacking. Up-to-date, fully functional technology is essential in virtually every industry today. It plays a huge role in business growth and efficiency, and it’s almost guaranteed that the use of technology in business will become even more prominent as time goes on.
While this is certainly true, bad IT is still costing businesses money every day. Technology is evolving at a fast pace and it can be intimidating to try to keep up with such a complex industry. A managed services provider (MSP) can perform a technology assessment of your company, giving them the insight they need to help you use technology to your advantage. There are many benefits to getting a technology assessment, primarily that it could save your business a significant amount of time and money.
Gives a Status Update
As the name suggests, a technology assessment gives you a complete report of the status of anything technology related in your business. An MSP will perform a complete review of your IT infrastructure, including the health of your network. They will assess things like bandwidth, latency, security, and server load.
For example, if you’ve noticed your network slowing down, a technology assessment can tell you why it’s not as fast as it used to be and how you can solve the issue. An MSP will be able to determine if it’s a bandwidth issue, for instance.
Perhaps file downloads, streaming, video conferencing, and cloud storage is overloading your bandwidth; a technology assessment can help you resolve this. This means your network will run faster, and you can provide quicker and more efficient service to your customers.
Identifies Weak Points
A technology assessment identifies any current weak points in your system and can detect similar issues that could become problematic in the future. This is essential in order to protect your business against security threats as a result of subpar IT resources or failure to comply with best practices. An MSP will be able to anticipate any possible issues and will update your system to help you avoid them.
You’re essentially looking to bridge the gap from where you are now to where you would like your business to be, from a technology standpoint. For example, you might need to focus more on cybersecurity and employ safeguards such as multi-factor authentication instead of weak passwords.
Determines if Company Policies Are up to Par
When it comes to your technology, you want your company policies and employee competencies to be up to par. Outdated company-wide standards won’t bode well for your business. Firstly, an MSP will identify problems in your operation and assess how technology can improve them. You then need to train your staff to ensure they follow any instructions or advice received on how to best utilize company technology..
For example, imagine you’re a sales organization that isn’t meeting its targets due to a lack of new business, and your sales reps don’t have a clear solution. You could combine this business problem and end-user problem by implementing the documenting and sharing of data throughout the company, allowing you to access a wider pool of potential customers and generate more revenue.
Evaluate Backup Strategy
With your business’s data security in mind, it’s vital to know if your information would be safe and accessible in the event of a catastrophe. An MSP can not only evaluate the existing aspects of your infrastructure and the effectiveness of your backup strategy, but they can also offer a more secure solution.
It’s crucial to find a safe place to store your data as a part of your disaster recovery plan. An MSP can ensure your data is encrypted and inaccessible to cybercriminals in the case of a security breach. They can also provide help and advice on what to do after a data breach, should one occur. The protection of your data is of utmost importance to the success of your company. A security breach could result in a halt in business and a huge loss of important information.
A technology assessment is essential in order to keep your business up to date. Any outdated tools or even a lack of technology, whether it be network or security related, could seriously affect your business. An MSP can perform a technology assessment and give you all the information you need in order to improve the IT side of your business.
In order to get a leg up on your competitors, it’s time to identify your weak points and find the best solutions!