As businesses change, so too should the technology that supports them. As your business grows, you should also consider a more robust IT package, to assist in being as efficient as possible. With your managed service provider, you can develop a plan of how to achieve this; in today’s article, we want to give a brief overview of this process.
1) Budget
Before considering specifics, you should consider what sort of financial outlay you are willing to make to set up your new IT solution. This is of critical importance since your managed service provider (who you should be consulting throughout the process) will have many ideas and needs to know what is financially feasible, and what is out of reach.
2) Consider goals
If you are a new business without an IT package, or an established business wanting to upgrade, the question should still be the same; “what do I want to achieve with my technology?” By answering that question, you can ensure that you set up a technology mix that meets those goals. For example, you may want your technology to track your stock or process sales invoices. In addition to hardware, you’ll need software that achieves this, and if you don’t consider this, you might end up unhappy with your solution. In extreme instances, this could cost tens of thousands of dollars as the process is restarted.
3) Consult with your MSP
As we suggested earlier, you should be consulting with your managed service provider throughout the process, but doing so at this stage is most important. This is where you will be making more specific decisions, such as what technology to buy, when it is going to be purchased, and how the implementation is going to occur. For example, you might want a staggered implementation, with new items being brought in overtime, or you might want to have everything installed over a weekend. What is best for you isn’t necessarily best for everyone, so you should consider your specific needs
4) Implement the plan, and have a backup
As explored in step 3, you should have a plan for implementation at this point, which should be actioned. The key though is to ensure that you have a backup / “Plan B” of some kind. This ensures that if something goes awry, you can still operate as a business, even if at limited capacity. This might be as simple as leaving one computer up and running throughout the implementation, separate from the rest of the network.
Summary
Implementing a new IT solution is tough, but absolutely possible. It is made easier by far when consulting experts, such as Rapid IT. If you have been considering an upgrade to your technology or you’re a new company looking for its first IT solution, give Rapid IT a call today, on 1300 727 430.
