When should a business be updating or upgrading hardware and software for technology?
As a business owner, technology is vital in any industry. Technology allows our companies to be more efficient, implement faster communication channels, provide faster lead generation, and so much more. However, information technology or IT is not common knowledge and can lead to a multitude of different problems for any business.
There are two different ways that not updating your computer's hardware or software can negatively impact your company’s technology and create security risks.
Two Ways Not Updating Your Technology Can Negatively Affect Your Businesses Productivity, Efficiency, and Security
Old Hardware
There are a vast number of companies that do not replace their computers or laptops until the day they will not turn back on. While this may work for personal computers and gaming computers, this will lead to a multitude of different issues within a business; including incurred cost from broken parts outside of the warranty, security upgrades or patches not being implemented causing threats, and wasted internal resources and/or money.
Old Software
Many people do not know the importance of software updates for personal or professional computers, laptops, tablets, and even cell phones. This allows a vast amount of risk to become present! There will be vulnerabilities in the technologies software and will allow more threats to exist overall.
What are the recommendations from an IT business owner that are practiced in house?
- The hardware life cycle on average is about three years. This means that you should be replacing desktops, laptops, tablets, and even cell phones after approximately three years.
- Make sure you are aware of the end of support or EOS date. The EOS date is when the hardware will stop receiving security updates from the manufacturer. Typically, this will also be around the last time you can obtain a warranty on the hardware.
- Make sure you are consistent with updating your software. This means managing updates to the Operating System or OS. Make sure you are aware of the OS end of support date.
Here are two actions you can take as a business owner to not be negatively impacted by your technology:
- Create a replacement strategy!
Replacing all of your business computers will fix your initial issue of having outdated technology, but this will not be sustainable with business growth every three years. Structure a plan to replace a certain number of computers, laptops, or tablets every three months. For example, if you have 30 laptops for all of your employees, in January 2023 you will replace 5 computers, then in April 2023 you will replace 5 more computers. This will continue until all computers have been replaced and will begin again in January 2027. This will allow you to consistently replace your technology and allow for consistent company growth and a manageable budget.
- Create an update strategy!
Make sure your businesses internal or external IT team has a consistent schedule to check for system updates. We recommend running a scan for software updates bi-weekly or monthly depending on your industries compliances. This allows your business to consistently patch, secure, and upgrade the software. By consistently patching and updating you will be minimizing your vulnerabilities and allowing less threats to be present. In turn, this will provide a lower risk to your technology.
Understanding the importance of upgrading and maintaining both your hardware and software for your company’s technology can lead to further and faster growth and can create sustainability and less risk overall for your company.
Do you have old and outdated software and hardware?
