What about your technology keeps you up at night?

Recently a number of the prospects I've called on have indicated that there are several things that keep them up at night. Since I've been keeping track, I decided to provide some useful real world data and see if others would be willing to help me in my collection and results. At the end of this post is a very simple, ONE ANSWER poll. I would appreciate your feedback. There is absolutely nothing for you to fill out and it's not a goofball gimmick of any sort (you remain completely anonymous!)

Server Crashes:

Server failure can be one of, if not THE largest interruption of business and production flow for any company. Talk about undue stress, unexpected expenses, and unforseen downtime. If a company has 40 employees, working at a rate of $10 per hour...it's conceivable that a company could then be losing $400 per hour in hard money...not to mention incidentals, and countless other indirect but real expenses like lost revenue and lost productivity.

Reliable Data Backup:

In today's world (especially with the ever increasing government regulations, e.g. healthcare) the need for offsite backup has skyrocketed. Hard drives die, buildings burn, and theives steal...but if you can get your precious data stored offsite, it puts you in a better position to recover and recover quickly from a disaster. Be very cautious of offsite backup that is "cheap" in price. An increasing number of companies tout the unbelievable deal of "only $55 per year for unlimited offsite backup!" This is very misleading since they charge an arm and a leg (sometimes a firstborn) to do your data "restore." Oh, and if you are a business...yeah...that $55 per year just went out the window...they forgot to mention the unlimited $55 per year was for home users only.

Security:

Isn't it funny how hackers love to hack? Yep, well it's kinda funny...almost like they enjoy doing it. So what keeps them at bay in your office? Are your systems being monitored on a 24/7 basis? Who is watching and do you trust them? If you are compromised by...oh..say...a virus or malware...does your provider offer basic remediation of your systems for free? What type of planning do you do with your IT person or IT vendor each quarter? How about semi-annually or annually? Are they proactive or reactive? Just a few things to consider.

Not Utilizing Full Potential Of IT

Information Technology or IT was created to make your life easier and work faster...not harder and slower. So many companies struggle and get frustrated trying to get employees to use the technology they have, and use it efficiently. I had a client who was a restoration company and they were spending HOURS hand writing items on paper, then taking them back to the office, typing them into a computer on a spreadsheet, then cutting and pasting from the spreadsheet for the project into a database...and all while having no way to track the progress of the work in the project as it moved from department to department. The fix looked like scanning in pre-printed barcodes on a hand scanner and sticking it on the item. Once scanned, the system automatically sync'd up with the web upon return to the office and everything was where it needed to be, complete with tracking numbers, current department location and a client portal to track the project internally and externally from the interet. Talk about ROI! Hello more billable hours! Hello more restoration projects per week!

Staying Current With Patches/Upgrades

Ever try to do something on your computer, but can't until you run a "patch" or an "upgrade" to a piece of software or your operating system? While you go to get your coffee and take a nap, that computer is still ticking away and costing you precious time, resources and productvity in your day. Is there a better way? Yep. How about running those patches and upgrades at night when no one is in the office and the internet traffic is off-peak and can pull those patches and updates faster. Oh and don't forget that you MAY be installing things you DON'T want...maybe you are installing a patch that a later patch fixes because of security loopholes or worse...a mistake. Use a vendor (like us) that has knowledge of these things and experience under their belt, that can make that a reality by managing CORRECT patches, updates and upgrades as well as control the data flow so as not to slow you and your business down.

So...What about your technology keeps you up at night? Take a 10 second poll & see your results: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/90082/bwtjf