Office technology has changed greatly over the years as new solutions are constantly created to solve common business challenges more efficiently—and existing solutions are refined to meet ever-changing business needs.
However, the sheer volume of technologies that are available for business offices can make finding the best setup for your needs difficult. How can you narrow down the list of office technologies you need to foster efficient and consistent business growth?
Let’s start by explaining some of the different types of office technologies and some tips for planning out your office tech to best suit your business’ growth goals.
Office technology can mean different things to different people. However, tech for offices can be divided into a few broad categories:
Cloud services can be further subdivided into three categories: public, private, and hybrid.
So, how can you ensure that your office has the right technology to help your business grow? Here are a few tech tips for planning your office’s IT infrastructure for business growth:
One of the biggest challenges in traditional office IT planning is setting up your IT to account for growth. At least, that’s the case with traditional in-house IT infrastructures. If you build your IT infrastructure to meet nearly exactly with your current needs, then you won’t have room for growth later. However, if you overbuild your IT to leave room for growth, then you may end up wasting money on IT capacity you won’t need for a long time.
So, many organizations choose to use cloud-based IT infrastructure instead to improve their IT flexibility. With cloud-based solutions, you can easily provision more computing capacity if and when you need it. Also, if demand shrinks (such as due to a routine seasonal slump), then you can scale back your cloud computing spend until you need the extra capacity again.
When planning out your office technology, it can help to have a complete picture of all your existing assets. If you don’t know what’s already on your IT network, then you may find yourself adding redundant resources—potentially wasting money.
Worse yet, unknown IT assets on the network can pose a significant cybersecurity risk. This, in turn, could lead to data breaches that actively stunt your business’ growth and could even result in the business failing. In fact, Business 2 Community reports that “1 in 8 businesses are destroyed by data breaches.”
With a comprehensive IT asset map, you can account for all of your IT assets in your office technology plan. This makes it easier to craft a comprehensive plan that addresses your needs while minimizing waste.
What, exactly, do you want to accomplish with your office technology? Having a goal in mind is important when mapping out which pieces of tech to add to your office. For example, is your goal to improve employee performance by a specific percentage? Reduce time spent on a certain task? Or, are you trying to cut costs?
Setting your goals before mapping out your IT strategy is key for making smart technology decisions that drive results. Simply adding the latest tech tools without regard for your overarching business goals may result in wasted tech budget.
If you haven’t already, it may be helpful to add a remote work solution to your office so that your employees can work from home at least a portion of the time. In recent years, remote office solutions have exploded in popularity.
According to data from PWC, “61% of employees expect to spend half their time in the office.” Remote office solutions that make “work from home” a reality aren’t just a “nice to have” anymore—they’re a business necessity for attracting and retaining talent.
Another benefit of having remote work solutions is that they can help a business expand their potential pool of talent to include those who may live too far away from the office to make the commute on a daily basis. Now, businesses in California could potentially recruit employees from Washington, Virginia, or other out-of-state locations. This could help to make the challenge of finding qualified employees more manageable for businesses in all industries.
After establishing your office technology plan, it can help to revisit it once a quarter or even once a year to review your results and make adjustments.
For example, are there tech solutions in your portfolio that aren’t panning out the way you expected them to? Then you may want to check why they aren’t working and either adjust how they’re implemented or remove them so you aren’t dedicating time and money to something that isn’t generating results.
Alternatively, are there solutions that are working especially well? If so, it can help to investigate why they’re effective and to look for ways to expand on that success. This could mean investing more in that tech or finding supplemental tools that can make it more effective.
Periodically revising your tech strategy can be crucial for maximizing results while minimizing your costs.
Need help making the most out of your office technology? Reach out to IT Proactive today to get started!
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