Running a small business today is far more complicated than it was back in the golden years before the rise of the internet. Yes, the internet is awesome and trying to picture life without it is practically impossible, however, that doesn’t change the fact that things are far more complicated now. For example, here are the 5 most common tech-related issues that small businesses face in this modern digital age…
1. IT costs
Running a tech-savvy business is expensive. Unless you can afford to have a dedicated IT department in-house at this stage, it means you’ll have to rely on yourself and your employees to pick up the slack. This puts you in a bit of a conundrum: do you increase your workload and distract your employees from their revenue-generating tasks, or do you front the bill and hire a competent IT department to assist you?
There are alternatives of course. For example, leveraging third-party IT support services while you grow your business.
2. Cyber security threats
The constant threat of cyber security is forever looming over the modern business owner. In fact, in the last ACSC annual cyber threat report, they mentioned over 76,000 cybercrime incidents!
Unfortunately, most SEMs are not adequately prepared to defend themselves against malicious cyber intent – making cloud computing all the more attractive to those who wish to properly protect themselves against the growing threat.
3. Embracing new technologies
We are in a digital age that is evolving rapidly and many of us find it difficult to stay up to date, let alone remain ahead of the curve.
This is something that many small business owners struggle with. When you already have a million and one things to worry about, being an expert on the latest technologies and knowing precisely which are best for your business can feel like a towering impossibility.
Again, working with a third-party IT support provider or a reputable cloud services company can help you remain abreast of the latest changes.
4. Limited IT strategies
Just as not having an IT department can be crippling for small businesses, having a limited IT strategy is equally as problematic.
When you are disengaged from the decision making process, creating a streamlined IT strategy that can help scale your business effortlessly can be an issue.
You must prepare your business for any future challenges and ensure that you have all of the support you need as you scale.
Just as you’d hire an accountant to look after the books, you need IT and cloud experts to provide similar support.
5. Backup and disaster recovery (or a lack thereof)
You likely have insurance to soften the blow if in the event someone breaks into your office and steals all of your hardware, or if there’s an earthquake or an electrical fire that levels your office to the ground, but, what about your data?
The money from your insurance claim can only fix so much. As for all of the critical business data and client information that gets lost, it can cripple your business beyond repair. This is where cloud hosting in Australia comes in very handy indeed; if all of your critical business data is backed up in a remote location—if in the event of a disaster—you can enjoy as little downtime as possible before getting back to doing business.
