Signs Your IT Infrastructure Needs an Upgrade
Internal IT infrastructure is a key component of several types of businesses. Unfortunately, many of these organizations lack current and updated IT infrastructure. Old IT infrastructure can affect productivity, efficiency, security, and workflow. To stay competitive with customer needs, data volumes, network traffic, and regulatory requirements, companies must consistently upgrade and maintain their IT infrastructure. If you are noticing the signs your IT infrastructure needs an upgrade, consider using a managed service provider like Tekscape to do it for you. In this week’s article, we will be discussing signs that your IT infrastructure needs an upgrade.
You are using legacy IT equipment
One of the most common reasons businesses upgrade their IT infrastructure is because they have old and outdated equipment. This equipment may include everything from computers to phone systems. The desktop computers and laptops you purchased several years ago were great at the time but now they are suffering from crashes, freezes, and painfully long load times. The good news is that when you decide to upgrade your IT infrastructure, there are several next generation devices with even greater capabilities. Choosing to upgrade to hybrid devices such as tablets will offer employees more flexibility and may also increase their productivity.
Your servers are constantly crashing
Crashing servers can lead to several problems such as company downtime and data loss. Servers crash for a variety of reasons but the most common reasons are limited bandwidth, inadequate space, and lack of processing power. They can also crash because of malware infection due to a lack of cybersecurity infrastructure. When making the decision to upgrade your IT infrastructure, a strategy should be implemented that will allow your business to operate at its peak and allow for worry free operation.
You are not utilizing cloud technology
Cloud computing offers greater flexibility, scalability, and collaboration. Your entire workforce can use the same software that is current and updates regularly. A managed service provider like Tekscape can help your business with its migration to the Cloud. Transitioning to the Cloud will increase processing power and dramatically increase data storage. The best part of integrating Cloud technology with your IT infrastructure upgrade is that it allows data to be backed up and is easily recovered in the case of a natural disaster, power outage, or major cyber-attack.
Your IT costs are off the chart
The older IT infrastructure is, the more it is going to cost to maintain and repair it. Companies that have older infrastructure often deal with issues in the moment and do not bother to address the underlying issues. Doing a complete upgrade to your IT infrastructure will save you money in the long run because you do not have to keep shoveling money into your old infrastructure just to keep it up and running. Using a managed service provider will allow you to pay a monthly fee to maintain the infrastructure as opposed to pouring money into constant fixes.
The software you use is out of date
Older software is often slow and can put your entire company network at risk. Legacy software may make your staff comfortable because they are used to using it, but it is much more susceptible to viruses and malware. Older software is also often non-compliant with regulated industry standards. This can put your business at risk for regulatory fines. When you use a managed service provider to maintain your software, they will ensure that is stays secure with security patches and regular penetration testing.
Your hardware is inconsistent
As businesses grow, they tend to add new hardware and it tends to be a wide range of equipment. Inconsistent hardware can lead to communication problems because of the equipment’s compatibility. Without equipment compatibility your employee-to-employee collaboration can be very difficult. Having consistent hardware will allow employees to share documents, run the same software, and can be easily controlled and managed by one system. The initial cost to upgrade your hardware may be steep but the increased productivity and collaboration abilities will make the cost worth it.
Your current IT infrastructure has been breached by a cyber attack
One of the clearest signs your IT infrastructure needs an upgrade is that your organization has suffered a security breach. A cyber-attack damages your organization’s ability to conduct business properly because not only will you lose valuable data, but it can also put your company’s reputation on the line. Even if the attack was smaller, it will not stop the possibility of another attack happening. If your infrastructure has been breached, it is wise to do a full systems check, replace legacy equipment, update your software, and approach a managed service provider to improve your security measures.
You have no reliable data backup
Businesses that choose to not implement a reliable backup plan put themselves at risk for data loss in the event of natural disasters, data breaches, or power outages. Businesses should move to a cloud-based disaster recovery service (DRaaS or disaster recovery as a service) that includes regular backups, maintenance, and security testing. Cloud backups use different storage medias and one is always off site in a server not at the businesses’ location. Our TekCloud service will help you be proactive with protecting your IT and data at one of our many server locations located in the United States.
Upgrade your IT infrastructure with Tekscape
Tekscape is committed to providing proactive, responsive, and timely managed IT services support for our clients. We start with our comprehensive new client onboarding process designed to get your business up-and-running on our monitoring and management tools with as little disruption as possible. For over 15 years, we have successfully onboarded simple and complex IT infrastructure supporting multiple users including:
• Servers and Systems
• Networking
• Collaboration (Phone, Video)
• Desktop, Email and Endpoints
• Microsoft Office 365 & Azure
• Security & Disaster Recovery
If you have noticed of any of the signs that your IT infrastructure needs an upgrade, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
