Happy New Year from the Dial A Geek team! If you’re anything like us, you’re just squidging back into your office chair, promising yourself you’re going to do some things differently this year.
When it comes to your business’s tech, the new year is the ideal to turn over a new leaf. No more accepting things because “that’s the way they’ve always been”. 2022 is the time to take action.
Not sure exactly what that action should be? Don’t worry. We’ve got some ideas for you:
Your New Year’s tech resolutions
1) Make your business cybersecure
If you’ve been crossing your fingers, humming loudly, and hoping for the best with your cybersecurity, placing it firmly and repeatedly in your “to-do” pile, it should be first on your list of resolutions to act on.
Because if there’s one thing you can’t afford to keep putting off, it’s your business’s cybersecurity. Other entries on this list might lose you customers or cause you problems. But they’re rarely going to be as bad as the absolute disaster – financial, operational, and reputational – that a cybersecurity breach could cause.
At the very least, you need to start doing things like:
- Get team cybersecurity training – so your people know how to spot things like phishing emails and the other major threats out there. Sadly, human error is the fault behind many breaches.
- Institute MFA – Multi-Factor Authentication is security that needs more factors than a simple password to get in. You’ll have noticed other companies starting to ask you for codes sent by SMS and the like. There’s a reason for that. Get started.
2) Get Cyber Essentials
If you want a checklist for all the cybersecurity measures you should have in place, the UK government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme is the place to start.
It’s also a big benefit in terms of getting new clients. Many larger organisations won’t work with businesses that don’t have Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certification because they’re just too much of a risk.
Why not kill two birds with one stone? Make your business a more attractive partner for major concerns or government contracts at the same time as you tick every box in your cybersecurity spreadsheet.
If you’re planning to grow your business this year, Cyber Essentials certification should be near the top of your list.
3) Move to the cloud
Speaking of growing your business, there’s another vital step to take with your tech if you want to protect your business or be ready to expand.
Moving to the cloud means moving all of your digital resources – the applications you use every day, your data, and more – away from your on-premises servers and the like to on-demand services accessed over the internet. This has a whole bunch of major advantages:
- Scale rapidly – if you’re planning to grow your business, being on the cloud makes it easy to scale the resources you have access to.
- Pay only for what you use – no more massive license fees to access necessary programs. With SaaS (Software as a Service) providers, you only pay for what you use.
- Security – it’s in the interests of providers to offer you the very best in terms of data security.
- Reliable performance – the providers of cloud services are some of the biggest and best in the world. They deliver incredible reliability and performance compared to legacy solutions.
- Easy backup and recovery – because all of your data is in the cloud, it’s easy to backup and recover (if you don’t have a backup process set up already, that’s another one to add to your list).
What’s more, in a world where pandemic lockdowns are a thing that can happen, being on the cloud helps you keep your team securely connected whether they can be in the office or not.
4) Start being more efficient with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
You might have already made the smart move of switching to suites of useful applications like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 (if you haven’t, bump this up to the top of your resolutions list too!), but are you getting the most out of them?
These suites of tools are incredible productivity maximisers. But if your team doesn’t know how to use them effectively, despite their cost-effectiveness compared with the epic licenses of yesteryear, you’re still paying for something you’re not getting maximum usage from.
This year, get some training and start using these suites to the full.
5) Use an MSP
If this is all sounding like a lot to handle, there is an easy solution – use an MSP.
A Managed Service Provider isn’t like an old-fashioned IT support company. It’s their job to help you choose the best tech solutions, get everything switched over to your new systems, monitor your systems for security, and help you plan for the future.
They will also help you implement all the previously mentioned solutions in the most cost-effective way.
If you don’t already have an MSP, make one of your tech resolutions to think about getting one.
6) Make a plan
Not sure where to begin? The best place to start is to make a plan. Creating what’s called an “IT roadmap” is a great way to know where you’re headed and how IT can help your business.
Again, this is the kind of thing a good MSP will be able to help you with. If not, if all you take away from this list is that it’s time to take some sort of action where your business’s tech is concerned, make creating a plan for the future the place you start.
Want to chat with a Bristol-based IT expert about the best place to start improving your business’s tech use?
Dial A Geek works with nearly 1000 businesses in and around Bristol, helping them make their tech work for them as they grow.
Set up a cost and commitment-free chat with Chef Geek Gildas Jones today (click here for his calendar). Let’s see how we can make yours work for you.
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