Are your staff being continually disrupted with IT downtime, lowering staff morale?
Poor IT can leave a lot to be desired. As more businesses are moving online and investing in specialised IT software to speed up the time it takes to perform daily and complicated tasks, the need for responsive and specialised IT support is ever-increasing.
IT downtime can cost businesses a substantial amount of time and money, which often leads to poor customer service and substantially reduced efficiency. To start 2018 with the correct processes in place, here are some of the best ways to improve your IT efficiency today.
Move Your Business to The Cloud
One of the best ways to increase the efficiency and usability of your IT systems is to move your business to the cloud. Migrating to the cloud will ensure your applications and business data are consolidated and organised in one place which allows employees to easily access data quickly and efficiently. Moving your business to the cloud can also save your business money due to its flexible cost structure and the reduction in the IT hardware you require.
Use an Efficient Web Content Management System (CMS) To Run Your Site
Content management systems are used to handle the content and structure of your website. While most websites use some form of CMS, it’s important to use a trusted and efficient CMS and to understand how you can utilise your CMS to unlock its full potential and manage the content on your website with ease.
The key efficiency benefits of using a good CMS for your website include:
- Simple and easy to use for people with limited IT knowledge
- Includes the ability to add multiple users with different permissions, providing easy access
- Scheduling is simple and streamlined
- Changing the design of your site is much easier
- Maintaining your site can be done more efficiently
Use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Program
Customer relationship management programs will give your staff the ability to quickly access information about the business.
Some of the key efficiency benefits of using a CRM include:
- Increased collaboration between staff
- Improved client relationships
- Easy access to necessary information
- Automation of simple everyday tasks, giving staff more time to work on important tasks
Get Professional and Trusted IT Support
If you want to ensure your IT projects and services are continually performing at or above expectations, you need to invest in professional and trusted IT support. Unless your staff are expertly trained in IT systems, issues they encounter can often become catastrophic, with the ability to bring their productivity to a standstill. Entrusting your IT support to IT professionals will ensure that any problems you encounter will be rectified and solved quickly and efficiently.
IT Strategic Planning and Decision Making
One way to assess the current efficiency of your IT system and plan for the future needs and projected requirements of your business is to make a strategic IT plan. Strategic planning is vital for all businesses and should incorporate every aspect of your business including IT, to ensure your business performs to its highest capacity in future years.
IT strategic planning should include:
- Identifying how your business can benefit from improved IT
- Assessing your current IT efforts and ensuring it’s aligned with your business goals and objectives
- A list of projected future IT expenses and purchases required to ensure top efficiency
Once you’ve got a strategic plan in place, it’s vital to make executive decisions to improve your business's IT efficiency. Consider the ways that IT support, training and improved IT systems could have a positive effect on reaching your business goals.
Specialised Staff Training
One of the best ways you can increase the efficiency of your IT efforts is to upskill your staff with professional training. Training is vital not only when you introduce new IT systems, but also when you want your staff to unlock the full potential of your IT systems. New software can often be confusing and overly complicated to staff who have little background in or limited knowledge of the software.
Training allows your staff to quickly adopt new software to reduce downtime and increase your business's efficiency. It allows your staff to be fully productive as soon as the new software is installed. Customers will also receive better service as your staff will be able to more easily navigate through your IT programs and retrieve information quickly.
Perform an IT Health Check
It’s hard for your staff to perform to their full potential if the IT system you have in place is not up to scratch, unable to perform all the processes that your business requires. Office Solutions IT offer a free IT health check so you can rest assured your system is in the best possible shape to keep up with your ever-evolving business.
The team at Office Solutions IT will perform a comprehensive review and provide a rating of your current IT performance, productivity and level of security. They will also give you some actionable recommendations on how you can increase your IT efficiency and create a more productive workplace. The free IT health check:
- Will provide solutions to ongoing risks
- Identify any IT risks and provide recommendations to manage them
- Assess your IT security and provide detailed solutions on how to combat potential shortfalls
- Ensure the IT systems you have in place support your staff with everyday and complex tasks
The IT health check is contract and obligation-free, so why not book yours today.
Boost Your IT Security
As more businesses are moving to the cloud and transferring their sensitive information online, IT security is becoming substantially more important and vital than ever before. Weak IT security will leave a raft of vulnerabilities in your business, opening the door for potential hackers to steal confidential business and personal information. This not only increases the risk of an attack, but it can also result in the loss of essential information and IT shutdowns, costing your business time and money.
One way to reduce the chance of IT shutdowns and reduced efficiency is to have experienced IT professionals perform an IT security audit of your business. This will identify any potential shortfalls in your IT security and give you a better understanding of the best IT security practices to keep your business information safe.
Be Proactive
Finally, be proactive. Don’t wait around for things to change. Act now and put the right processes in place to increase your IT efficiency. 2018 is just around the corner and the processes and programs you put in place will start to work instantly, putting your business on the right road to business success.
If you want to start 2018 on track to business success, speak to the experienced team at Office Solutions IT today at (08) 9381 0900 to discuss your IT support and efficiency.
