3 Signs It's Time to Upgrade Your Business's Technology

by Stephanie Faris on Monday, March 30 6:00

Often as a business is dealing with a relocation, some big decisions are made about technology upgrades. Server movers see these questions often during the move process, but a business doesn t need to wait for a move to make technology upgrades. In fact, IT experts recommend regularly assessing your hardware and software infrastructure and determining areas that can be improved.

But don t assume you have to upgrade your technology simply because it is a certain age. Both hardware and software can provide many years of use before reaching end of life. Here are three sure signs you should upgrade to a newer technology soon.

Your Customer Service Is Affected

Are customers complaining about slow transaction times? Do your customer service representatives routinely say, We can t do that? If the limitations of your system are making themselves known to your customers, you could find your income affected. This is especially true of outdated, paper-based processes that consistently lead to errors in bookkeeping, order fulfillment, appointment setting, and similar tasks.

Technology movers have frequently found that when businesses begin searching for replacement systems, they can acquire newer technology at minimal cost. Many cloud service providers offer software for a low monthly price and it s cheaper than ever to do less with more when it comes to your server rooms.

Your Systems Are No Longer Supported

There are many businesses running outdated software, including decades-old mainframe systems and legacy applications. Longtime employees may have no trouble at all using these systems, since they ve been working that way for years, but new employees have a tremendous learning curve. Today s millennial generation grew up using GUI-based systems and often aren t comfortable working in such an old-fashioned environment.

But the biggest problem with these older systems is that they often lack the support necessary to keep them going from one year to the next. Vendors may have long ago stopped providing help and if, for some reason, the server holding these applications need to be replaced, a business may be forced to deal with downtime as they find a specialist to rebuild them on a new server.

Your Systems Are Holding You Back

Modern-day applications are designed to work across multiple platforms, flowing seamlessly across smartphones, tablets, and PCs. When a business uses older systems not designed for this purpose, that business s customers and clients might experience delays, since workers can t get to the information they need until they re back at the office. As more companies move toward mobile, this lack of connectivity will put a business behind its competitors.

When a business reaches a point where its technology is preventing it from fully growing, that business should probably start investigating alternatives. A system should have the flexibility to scale as a business changes and when it halts progress, it becomes an obstacle to success.

The decision to upgrade technology is one each business must make on its own. Server movers can recommend some great alternatives to an organization s existing hardware, software, and network infrastructure but the business ultimately makes the decision.