Top 10

Ten Costly Technology Mistakes and How to Avoid Them!

Any one of these mistakes can be the weak link during an intense business period and be the cause of a company’s loss of time, money and customers. Taking preventive measures to avoid these very common tech pitfalls enables a business to turn its office equipment into strategic technology tools that can expand, enhance and reinforce its business growth.

A rundown of the mistakes and fixes includes:

1. Not Backing up Data Properly – Get committed to running backups, and run a check to verify that you’re really backing up what you think you’re backing up… and don’t forget your email!
2. Not running Anti-Virus Properly – You’d be amazed at the number of errors we see out there. You need live update and regular scans. Otherwise, you’re just not protected!
3. Not having a firewall when you need one – Many people think they don’t need a firewall for dial-up Internet access. You do! A firewall for a small business is not expensive, so don’t be without it!
4. Not having an emergency tech recovery plan – Spend a few minutes creating a simple plan for what to do when you’re technology fails you. Nothing fancy, just a few bullets on an index card.
5. Hanging on to old systems too long – Rule of thumb: If the system is more than three years old, it’s usually less expensive to replace, rather than upgrade.
6. Not having proper usage policies for technology equipment – do you allow employees to download any file they want or install any software they want on their system? Clearly communicate what employees CAN and CAN’T do.
7. Wide-open Wireless Networks: Change the default password, turn on WEP Encryption, and turn off the SSID.
8. Lack of Software License Compliance – This can generate costly fines for your business. Even if you’re not aware of what your employees are doing! Go to the Business Software Alliance web site: www.bsa.org for more information.
9. Not Investing enough time to get the most from your technology – Schedule an hour a month to learn more of the features you already have – mail merge, database import/export. It will make you a LOT more productive!
10. Not organizing network and system documentation, including original licenses – When you need it, and you can’t find it, you’ll be sorry!