IT has matured and turned into something that’s part of any business operation. And as businesses are born or age, IT needs to adapt. The time to ask questions about what needs to be done is now. Legacy systems lose support over time, computers need upgrading or replacement, and systems need monitoring. Not taking these steps means losing efficiency, which results in lost income. The longer it takes for someone to perform a task on his or her computer, the less time he or she has to do a job properly. The following are three ways to make IT more efficient in 2017 and improve your operations.

Overhaul Your Legacy Systems

Image via Flickr by Jamison_Judd

A legacy system is a network that’s running on outdated software and hardware. You may think that everything works fine, and it probably does, but it’s not benefiting you or your employees. Systems that are slow to react to a mouse click or paging through multiple windows for one task just slow things down. And if your server room is in the same boat, your employees can’t get their files quickly.

Invest the money in upgrading hardware and software even if it’s only one computer at a time. And consider storing files in the cloud for faster retrieval and stronger security. Yes, it’s a sunk cost, but it’s one that benefits your business almost immediately in the form of faster processing.

Set Up Automatic Alerts

There are any number of things that can go wrong with your intranet. A vital server goes down, a hacker tries to get in, or a hard drive has crashed. You won’t know any of this if you don’t have automatic alerts set up.

Automatic alerts work by sending a message to the specified recipient when something’s not right. It’s a simple premise: the alert system pings each computer in the intranet to determine whether it’s operating and if that’s correct. In the event that a computer or server isn’t operating within the set parameters, the automatic alert goes out and the responsible person can respond quickly. The result is less downtime for you and for your business.

Use a Virtual Private Network

Business doesn’t always stop when you and your employees leave the office. If something important comes up after hours, you want your employees to have access to work information anywhere that they happen to be. Your best option is to use a virtual private network (VPN) so everyone can log in without outsiders knowing what they’re doing. All information is encrypted, the user IP is scrambled, and the physical location is much more difficult to determine. Your data stays between your employee and your servers with minimal risk of a hacker getting his or her hands on it.

These are some of the ways you can get your IT running more efficiently in 2017. Sit down with IT and work out a plan to overhaul the intranet. It’s a big job, but it’s something that’s beneficial when you spend less time fixing and more time working.

Originally posted on April 5, 2017 @ 10:58 pm