Sean Wallbridge
Given that you can’t have good technology without good technology, a lot of business owners and managers assume that having the best, top-of-the-line hardware naturally assures that their company will have great networking and communication. That’s not always the case, however, and even spending huge amounts of money on having the latest and greatest hardware, software, and networking platforms around your office won’t safeguard you against every problem.
Why is that?
Because even the best equipment needs the right people to utilize it, and the right plans to keep it working the way it’s supposed to. Without either of those elements, your investment in technology is wasted. If that seems like a stretch, imagine a brand-new racecar, with millions of dollars of technology and engineering behind it, being put into the hands of someone who was just learning to drive. Under those circumstances, all of that equipment isn’t a benefit… in fact, it could be the reason for a costly mistake.
Let’s take a closer look at the two biggest networking issues besides the actual technology itself:
The right people. It goes without saying that you should have a top-notch IT provider monitoring your networking systems, updating security, and even installing the equipment. Trying to do any of these without trained professionals can lead to issues like equipment failure, unpredictable errors, and even an incompatibility between different pieces of hardware. It isn’t enough to have the correct hardware for your company’s networking – you also need someone who knows how to get the most out of it.
The right networking plans and processes. No communications problem should ever catch you completely off guard. You or your IT provider might not have expected it to happen, of course, but there should always be a plan in place to deal with the inevitable. Whether your server is down, your phones stop working, you experience an e-mail outage, or have some other networking and communication error, there should be a set process in place to deal with it.
Having these kinds of plans put together by a professional IT team before you need them can drastically cut down on the amount of time it takes to resolve any issue, small or large. Having a good IT provider, and using good networking equipment, cuts down the chances that you’ll experience some kind of technology-related communication issue; but when you do, having the right processes laid out can make all the difference.
It’s easy to understand why so many companies think that having the right kind of technology in their office should be enough to prevent the biggest problems from occurring, but the reality is that you also need the right IT provider with the right plans in place to get the most out of any hardware. Remember that, and don’t fall into the trap of spending a lot on networking hardware, only to wish you had the right kind of technology support to back it up.