The Exact Technologies Holding Your Business Back
Dan Altman
I help Professional Service firms to enhance and secure their operations through technology.
We recently wrote an E-Book on the top 10 Technologies to improve your business (LINK TO DOWNLOAD) and it got us thinking about the flip side: what are the technologies that need to be trimmed?
In this short blog, we’ll review the exact technologies that have the largest negative impact on the productivity of a business. Let’s get started!
Emailing documents internally
This one drives me crazy. There is no better way to ensure duplicate files and having users working off old files than emailing documents internally. The data needs to stay on one shared location, whether that be a file server or SharePoint. If the latter, the active file can be worked on by any user (with access) at anytime and revisions are saved! If you get nothing else from this blog, it’s to make sure your team is not emailing documents internally.
On-premise phone systems
Having a giant phone system onsite is becoming rarer, but we still bump into it all the time. With the advent of internet phone systems that come with you wherever you are, on-premise phone systems are a dying breed. It’s like deciding between a horse carriage and a sports car, but they both cost the same amount…
Webcam for conference rooms
If you hold more than one conference call a year, then ditch the webcams. There are incredible conference room systems that are inexpensive and easy to operate. Nothing says professional like webcam cramming to try and get a word in. Time to upgrade to an actual system meant for conference calls with partners, employees, prospects, or clients.
Inadequate internet speed (upload specifically)
Too many businesses are operating on a 50/5 or 100/10 internet speed. Don’t let me lose you! The first number is the download speed, and the second number is the upload speed. Anytime something is downloading from the internet – first number. Anytime you’re uploading something (video calls for instance) – second number. Nowadays, the upload speed is more important than ever and too many businesses are limping along on inadequate speeds. We can provide a full list of all internet options with the best prices for your location if you want to see how you can fix this today.
Computers over 5 years old
The investment in a new computer may seem scary, especially as it creeps into the $1,000-$1,500 range. Many businesses stick with the “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” methodology. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work with old computers. Users are being slowed down, maintenance costs go up, security issues become present, and the perception is a killer. ROI on a new computer can be as quick as 6 months for a computer than can last another 5 years!
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No Multi-Factor Authentication with Trusted Sites
Businesses not having Multi-Factor Authentication turned on are asking for trouble. That’s when you have to put in an additional code to login to your Microsoft 365 or other app (you know, that thing your bank always does when you want to get into your sensitive information).
Well, here’s a little secret. You can add your physical locations as “trusted sites.” This virtually eliminates the need to put that code in without sacrificing the benefits of having MFA turned on! It’s awesome and our clients love us for it.
Paying for Microsoft 365 and only using it for Office products and email
For the finale, we need to talk about the largest infraction: investing in Microsoft 365, but only using it for Office products and email…
Your Microsoft 365 subscription comes with 20+ incredible applications that can probably be substitutes for products you’re paying for elsewhere. An example is Bookings. Many businesses use the Bookings tool and get rid of paying a separate subscription for Calendly.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg though. Feel free to reach out if you would like to learn more about how we help businesses get the most of their subscriptions!
Conclusion
I’m sure you’re not guilty of any of these. However, if you’re still reading, you might need help with a few. We’re the local technology experts and can help you make your technology work for you, instead of against you.
What do you think? Are there any others that you can think of that I left off the list?
Give me a call and let’s talk about it.
(256) 957-7988