Has your company hit a technology sticking point? That is when it seems like things are in a rut with your IT infrastructure and you know there are ways to improve but you are not quite sure how to get there.
According to a study by Google, 80% of small businesses are not taking full advantage of technology optimizations. This means they tend to make half as much revenue per employee as firms that are more digitally advanced.

There are a number of technology upgrades that your Connecticut business can do to improve your network and IT systems to boost efficiency and increase employee productivity.

You would be surprised how just a few tweaks here and there can free up more hours per day due to faster devices, faster networks and freedom from IT struggles that eat into daily work time.

Make Your Business Better with These Technology Upgrade Tips

The cost of using outdated systems and not updating your technology infrastructure can come through a number of ways. It is estimated that employees waste 22 minutes each per day due to tech issues which adds up to over 2 weeks per year in lost productivity. Multiply that by the number of employees that you have and that is a lot of time wasted on tech issues!

Another way that using outdated systems can slow your company down is if your network can’t reliably support all of your devices. In the last decade, multiple mobile and IoT devices have been added to the work process, putting more demands on networks which can slow down if there is too much traffic demand.

Here are several ways you can improve productivity by deploying key upgrades in your network and other IT systems.

Transition from One Router to a Multi-Access Point Mesh System

If you have just a single router at your office, it can mean weak and spotty connections for some users because they are so far from the router. Solid block walls and large furniture can also interfere with Wi-Fi signals, leaving “dead zones” that you have to work around.

Mesh Wi-Fi systems use multiple access points instead of just one to blanket your premises with a net of connectivity. This speeds up connections, avoids router device overload and eliminates problems with weak or zero signal areas.

Upgrade User Computers

Companies will often hold onto computers as long as possible without replacing or upgrading them so they can get the most money possible out of the investment.

Often employees are struggling with slow systems that are keeping them from doing their jobs as fast as they could do them with the right tools. However, executives are often in the dark about this.

While 90% of company leaders say they are giving their team the best digital tools, only 53% of employees think so.

Upgrades that can speed up your existing workstations include:

  • Switching out hard disk drives (HDDs) for solid-state drives (SDD)
  • Adding more memory
  • Replacing the graphics card
  • Getting a system tune-up from an IT professional

Migrate to an Integrated “All-in-One” Cloud Platform

Most work is now being done in cloud software applications and these can either make work easier or be holding you back. If your team has to use tools from many different providers and learn all those different interfaces, it can make their workflow less productive.

By migrating to an “all-in-one” cloud platform like Microsoft 365, you can give your employees a much more optimized cloud experience that includes multiple tools that share data and all work together and have a similar user interface.

Digitize Your Document Flow

Are you still using some paper documents in your workflows? These can slow people down and cause bottlenecks in project processes.

A digital signature tool can remove the need to print out and store paper documents for things like contracts and vendor agreements. By going fully digital, you are able to have all documents easily searchable, secured and won’t have any manual paper processes slowing your team down.

Switch from Landline Phones to a VoIP System

The recent pandemic-related shutdowns emphasized the need for businesses to have processes that could be run from any location and support a remote workforce. 

Communications like your business phone lines are a vital piece of the day-to-day in a company and if you are still using older landline phones, it can be slowing your team down and making it more difficult for you to provide a consistent caller experience.

VoIP systems offer several productivity boosts to communication including a full enterprise-class phone system with multiple features (auto attendant, call handling etc.) and they allow your phone system to be accessible by computer, mobile device or VoIP desk phone. 

Cloud phone systems integrate other communication features like digital fax, video calling, texting and automated voicemail transcription which improves productivity while also reducing phone operational costs.

Let Sound Computers Help You with a Productivity Upgrade 

Often, upgrades to your network and systems pay for themselves fast in productivity improvements. Let us help you identify your best areas to optimize to improve your company efficiency.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 860-577-8060 or reach us online.

July 27, 2020
Steven Nuhn