The daily management of a growing business of any size is no ‘walk-in-the-park’. As any business grows, it’s management must constantly concern itself with dozens of daily details that it had never considered before. Although the new Business Technology tools can help streamline your daily working and managing life, it is worth looking at what kind of management systems you will need to employ to have your system work for you, not the other way around!

This Does Not Run Itself.

No matter what advertising you have seen, or what Salesmen’s pitches you have sat through, the best tools are one that run across an entire system – not single programs that require to be ‘surgically inserted’ into your businesses’ mainframe. Constant patching, and the addition of single-use programs to deal with individual issues will only lead to more problems as your business expands. Especially if the person in charge of the system does not have a background in Information Technology tools.

Using your friends ‘techie’ nephew to install a program, then asking your Office Manager to keep an eye on the system is short-term thinking that may save you pennies right now but will cost you dollars down the road – usually at times when you can least afford it.

Demand Improved Overall performance

Business technology tools are constantly changing and upgrading just as any other Technology from Cars to Household items do. The Open Source nature of the Tech Coding community, however, means that ‘great leap forwards’ happen very quickly, with no large board-driven management upper-level to hold them back. The Information Technology industry is unrecognizable today from 5 years ago and will only continue to evolve as Software Defined working platforms and data crunchers continue to develop.

The Internet of Things (IoT) mean that everyday items will now be connected to centralized Administration services – and each other – to create neuro-webs of information and service we can only glimpse at present – just as we saw the ‘Cloud Technology’ takeover business fields of communication and database management a few years ago. Even if you have ‘An I.T. Department’ of any size, can they keep up with this technology, to help you keep ahead of your competition? You can do without these stressful details.

If it’s time to scale up to a better system, investigate what overall systems that come with their own management and technical assistance can do. Demand an Overall Improved Performance, rather than a band aid to solve one single issue or a handful of seemingly unconnected ones.

Keeping Cost Certainty

If you are going to upgrade, know what this is going to cost – not just for the shopping list you have now, but for the future upgrades and expansions you will need. Cost certainty moving forward relieves a lot of stress, whether you are looking at a new Technology system, or a new Water supplier for your office kitchen.

A subscription service will help you with this. Today’s Managed Information Technology Services (MITS) are specialists in this lightening-fast growth and understand the need for the move to a more efficient system as well as the need to keep a ‘hands-on’ approach for a years-long agreement. Contracts with these vendors can include ongoing computer repairs and maintenance, installation and implementation of software and upgrading of equipment, as well as being on hand to help with any employee-related problems that arise. You don’t want to waste money, so the comfort of knowing exactly, per user, what your new technology will cost three or five years down the line is crucial to your undisturbed sleep patterns at night.

Protect your Brand

No matter what vertical your business works in, successful business practices lead to expansion and bigger businesses – however, Businesses need to have a successful brand in the eyes of it’s Customers, prospects and vendors to continue this growth.

Information Technology has become Business Technology over the last handful of years – no longer part of some murky backroom within the guts of the Company, but proudly out front, courtesy of the Web. It is now your ‘Vice President of First Impressions’, and care should be taken to ensure it not only does its job daily, but joins it’s interconnected ‘back-end’ as a seamless, worry-free engine that drives your business forward.

Since 2017, look at the growth of online Furniture supplier Wayfair. It can afford to offer free delivery of anything anywhere, because of the savings within it’s system from advertising and customer ordering through it’s website, the direct links to provisioning and warehousing, then rapid online banking and delivery. It’s overall Business Technology runs the entire business model, based on the simple premise that Prospects do not need to touch furniture before buying it.

With the proliferation of advertising and marketing to details of your future customers now in the databases of your current customers (and easier to both find and manipulate), your Brand recognition will soar. If you let an archaic, patched system try to do the job, you can harm your brand irreparably – leading to more stress and management concerns.

Manage your IT – Don’t let it Manage You

With a Managed IT Services contract, you will be able to detect what kind of over-arching system is right for you, and how best for employees and customers to access and work with it. Your Business performance will improve as you see what is possible with your new businesses technology tools, and you will have certainty not only about costs, but also about the ‘back room’ support and protection that comes with the system for years to come.

You will start to do better than your competition that resolve to stay in the same place and ‘patch’ their way through to the next upgrade. Your brand name will grow in the marketplace, and you will start freeing up both Capital and Operating Expenses to afford your next expansion (Including your technology requirements), giving you less stress and – perhaps – time for a Walk in the Park!