IS IT TIME FOR AN UPGRADE?
Aging IT equipment and the bottom line
Technology is the driving force behind any business today and understandably, companies are reluctant to spend on technology upgrades but, unfortunately staying behind can cause you serious issues. Outdated technology is often the cause of a decline in employee productivity. System downtime and fixing legacy IT equipment takes away from focusing on your core business functions and downtime is much more costly than we initially realize.
On average, if an employee must wait 5 minutes for files to open or 10 minutes for computers to reboot or boot up, it is predicted that overall it wastes 1 week per year in productivity, PER employee! It is also estimated that as many as 167 hours are spent lingering, waiting for legacy computers to respond to tasks. Surely that’s enough for even the most patient of people to grow discontented.
You don’t have to be an IT professional to know when it’s time to replace. Computers for instance, all you have to do is watch how efficiently it operates, and how long it takes to perform routine business tasks. If you can make a cup of coffee while your computer boots up, if it is slow to respond if you have more than a few tabs open in your browser, and you can type a full sentence before a single word appears on screen, then it is time to replace.
“The downside to legacy IT equipment ”
Increased costs of fixing old IT, as technology infrastructure evolves and ages it becomes more expensive to fix. The money being spent on fixing legacy equipment is money that is being taken away from growing your business. Outdated IT equipment are often riddled with security holes, leaving your companies sensitive data open to cyber-attacks and cyber terrorism. Outdated software also can run the risk of legal and regulatory compliance problem down the track.
Keeping legacy systems in use usually becomes more expensive as systems get older. The cost of not replacing can often far outweigh the cost of replacing. It is well worth considering new equipment, a move to cloud services, hosted phone system or Managed Services. This will allow you and your employees to focus on what is important – servicing your customers to the best of your ability and business growth.
