Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) simply don’t have the large budgets that come with running an enterprise, and because of this, many of them have trouble affording IT maintenance and management. In a similar sense, these smaller organizations struggle with planning out an IT infrastructure. Does your business have a plan in place?
What Does Your IT Infrastructure Look Like?
Your IT infrastructure consists of all the technology that enables your organization to store and utilize data that it has collected. This includes your network, your storage system, and any hardware and software solutions that are used to access it. Basically, an IT infrastructure is effectively your organization’s central nervous system, supporting operations through the transportation of data.
It’s clear that your IT infrastructure will play an important role in the way your business works. This means that you’ll need to invest time and energy into developing a proper strategy for your IT infrastructure to adhere to.
Determining Your IT Infrastructure Strategy
The same infrastructure won’t work for all businesses, so you’ll have to craft one. To create an optimized infrastructure strategy, consider the following best practices.
Simplification
Make no mistake–your infrastructure today hardly resembles what it looked like just a few short years ago (at least, it shouldn’t). Chances are that your IT infrastructure contains several different types of technology. This complicates the process of improving and updating it.
Be sure to consider the modern standardization of the software and integrations that are possible with your centralized IT platform, as this will maximize access to data and increase how much value you get from your solutions.
Flexibility
IT is always changing and adapting to trends, which means that you will want to build your IT infrastructure in such a way that it can take advantage of these changes. Ask yourself where your organization’s biggest speed constraints are, as well as how they can be rectified. If you can consolidate your existing infrastructure to limit the risks, how would this affect your business processes? These are all factors that must be taken into consideration.
Service-Focused
The biggest advantage that IT provides for your organization is that operations can’t happen without it. When planning out your infrastructure, be sure to consider the fact that your entire business will need to use it for access to services and tools required for each employee’s day-to-day responsibilities. Ask yourself what you can do to make sure your infrastructure can do what must be done both now and in the future.
Why You Should Consider a Managed IT Infrastructure
You might recall the process you used to create your network back when your business was just a fledgling pushing back against the world. Remember that feeling and use it to fuel the process of reexamining your current IT infrastructure. In fact, you may find it more reasonable to outsource this task to a managed service provider.
There are many benefits to doing this, but the biggest has to come from the time you’ll save from doing so. You have a lot on your plate as a business owner. Can you say with confidence that you have the time it takes to design, build, manage, and maintain an IT infrastructure? Of course not–there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Instead, you hand this responsibility to professionals you trust to ensure that the process goes well.
GeekBox IT wants to be the MSP you trust to make sure your infrastructure is working for your business and its goals. To learn more about the services we offer, reach out to us at (336) 790-1000.