Taking a need-based approach to your IT requirements will allow your business or organization to maximize its potential! 

It’s easier than ever to build an IT strategy around the hottest tech trends, software applications, and hardware devices. Despite having an array of high-tech kit, this strategy will probably add little value to your business and may even drain your cash stores. Ignore the allure of the latest and greatest in tech, it’s best to take a step back and build an IT strategy that involves your most pressing needs. We recommend starting with your biggest problems and building backwards, ensuring everything is integrated effectively and compatible. Below is a list of things to think of when building out a needs-based IT strategy.  

Compatibility Trumps All 

All it takes is one person in your organization to use an incompatible device and efficiency goes out the window. For example, if your organization uses Microsoft 365 and a new employee is insistent on using Apple’s Pages or Keynote, you will probably run into problems. These problems may not be large, but they will cause a couple of headaches for anyone attempting to open incompatible documents. As an additional example: if some of your employees prefer to edit Adobe PDFs on Acrobat Reader and some have never heard of the application, you’re probably going to run into some efficiency hurdles. So please, for the sake of efficiency, ensure all devices and applications are compatible with one another.  

Data Is Gold and Gold Is Expensive 

You will need far more data storage than you expect, guaranteed. However, data storage can be expensive and difficult to manage if it’s on-premise (if your organization manages on-site data centres). Options exist for organizations that want to maximize data storage bang-for-buck or for those who want increased security. Regardless, your organizations’ data should be treated like gold and gold requires effective vaults to secure it. Therefore, don’t ignore data expenditures but understand that they can be more expensive than anticipated.  

Reliability Is King 

Above all, ensure that all tech hardware and software systems are running smooth, have effective connections (if needed), and are updated and backed up regularly—an offline or poorly functioning system is a money-burning problem. Step one in building a reliable IT/tech system is compatibility. If your systems aren’t compatible, you’re going to have reliability issues. Step two involves finding the point of equilibrium between complexity and simplicity. Hardware and software systems are complex by nature, especially on the back end. However, a reliable IT/tech system must be simple enough to fix quickly and usually without having to reboot the whole system.  

Outsourcing Makes Sense 

Growing or maintaining your business is the number one priority. Managing an internal IT department when there is no need for it should never be a priority. Whenever possible, outsource your IT requirements. This can include your data storage, your hardware procurement, and most importantly your security maintenance and development.