Why Upgrade Your IT Infrastructure?
Your IT infrastructure could be holding your business back. Your organization’s productivity, communications, and security can all be tied directly to one thing—your IT infrastructure.
That one “thing” is actually an entire ecosystem of technology components: hardware, software, and networking, including all the connections in between. For your IT infrastructure to be working at maximum capacity, all the systems must work well together.
As time goes on, you may not notice that the system as a whole is in dire need of an upgrade. How can you tell?
Here, we’ll illustrate some telltale signs that it’s time to start planning comprehensive upgrades for your IT infrastructure.
What Are the Components of an IT Infrastructure?
- Hardware. Think of hardware as all the physical technology pieces in your business—laptops, desktops, servers, phone handsets, routers, switches, firewalls, etc.
- Software. The software portion of your IT infrastructure includes the applications installed, used by, or referenced by hardware in your IT ecosystem—operating systems, applications, browsers, etc.
- Networking. Networking includes all the things that keep your IT infrastructure connected—internet connections, wi-fi, cables, etc.
Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your IT Infrastructure
Access and Communication
1. Network Connectivity Is Up and Down
Your internet connection and phone calls shouldn’t regularly drop. Downtime is expensive and dropped calls can hurt your organization’s reputation.
2. Software Is Out-of-Date
Can’t update your software because it’s not compatible with older hardware? Can’t upgrade your hardware because you rely on legacy software? Old software can limit your productivity, and if it’s no longer supported or receiving regular security updates, you’re leaving the door open to be hacked.
3. Business Is Growing Rapidly
Can your network handle the internal and external traffic for your growing business? Growth is fantastic, but growing faster than your IT infrastructure can handle can start to put the brakes on your organization’s future ability to keep growing.
4. Adopting a Long-Term Work From Home Plan
Is your IT infrastructure designed to handle work-from-home and hybrid employees? Bootstrapping in-office solutions might work in the short term, but if you plan to enable work-from-anywhere capabilities for the long haul, your IT infrastructure should support your organization, especially from security, connectivity, and communications standpoints.
5. Phone System Is Old
Dialup days are long gone, and businesses frequently forget that phone systems are still part of an IT infrastructure. Modern cloud-based phone systems offer remote capabilities, productivity features, and improved connectivity.
Uptime and Productivity
6. Everything Is Slow
Does it take forever to log into your computer, connect to the internet, or at the end of the day, just to do your job? With technology, speed is critical for success. Aging hardware, software, and network equipment can all impact speed.
7. Hardware Is Old
In addition to impacting your organization’s visual reputation (a dusty, grimy 50-pound white monitor doesn’t scream “cutting-edge”), old hardware isn’t always compatible with or optimized to run newer software applications.
8. Servers Always Going Down
Servers are the heart of your IT infrastructure. If your servers are always going down, it’s like driving your car with the check engine light on and smoke billowing from the engine.
9. Repairs Are Expensive and Unpredictable
With a comprehensive technology plan for your IT infrastructure, you can better plan for cost-effective hardware, software, and network upgrades, rather than shelling out for expensive repairs and employee downtime.
Cybersecurity
10. Cybersecurity Solution Is Out-Of-Date
Cybersecurity changes rapidly because new threats appear every day. To protect your data, employees, and reputation, a multilayered cybersecurity solution is essential. How up-to-date is your business’s cybersecurity solution?
11. Data Is a Problem
No data backup. No recovery plan. No cloud backup. Not having a plan for your data is a recipe for disaster.
How to Plan IT Infrastructure Upgrades
Upgrading your IT infrastructure shouldn’t be a spur-of-the-moment or break-fix scenario. Replacing or repairing an individual piece of hardware is a short-term solution.
To ensure the holistic wellbeing of your entire IT ecosystem for the long haul, you need a plan, not just for the present but also to ensure the long-term reliability and functionality of your hardware, software, and network.
We Make Things Easier.
As a technology partner, High Touch helps strategize, plan, and support IT infrastructure projects for organizations. To learn more about our IT infrastructure capabilities, from consulting to special projects, cybersecurity, and managed services, get in touch with us — we’re happy to help!