Top 10 computer network mistakes made by SMB's

Tuesday, 19 March 2019 -

Published in Burnt Orange Solutions Saskatoon, Fully Managed Computers and Networks, Saskatoon IT Computer Techs

Top 10 computer network mistakes made by SMB’s

Our Saskatoon IT Tips are from the Trusted professionals at Burnt Orange Solutions. We promise to have a one-hour response time for all your Saskatoon IT support needs. Honesty and respect are important to us. In our latest IT Expert tip Article, we discuss the Top 10 computer network mistakes made by SMB’s

Top 10 computer network mistakes made by small and medium businesses

1. A Waste Of Money

Nearly every business in the world is guilty of this. Business owner spend a great deal of money and time on software packages that can do wonderful things, and then only use 10 percent of its capability.
Spend a little bit of time and money, go on a course or send staff on courses to get the most out of software packages like QuickBooks or your customer database software.
These courses are not too expensive and in relation to your customer database, if a short course will gain you just 1 extra customer this year, it will have paid for itself.

2. Not Protecting The Business

Did you know that the average cost of recovery from a ransomware infection is in 2018 was US$133,000 globally?

Our team at Burnt OrangeSolutions have helped several companies recover from virus and ransomware attacks in Saskatoon, here are the figures for an actual Saskatoon firm:

ACTIVITY COST TO BUSINESS

Downtime. $5,333
Recovery of Data. $2,000
Recovery of Computers. $1,500
Lost Productivity. $7,999.50
Reproduction of Lost Data. $140,000
Loss of Business. $63,786
Rebuild of Reputation. $7,500

Total: $228,118.50

Not protecting the network can be a very costly error. From simple things like enforcing the need for strong passwords to having a correctly configured business grade firewall, protecting a business computer network is a complex task and should be done by a professional company.

3. Not Protecting The Company’s Data

Look at the table above again. The largest entry is for the reproduction of lost data.
This comes down to having an automated and tested backup/recovery/continuity solution. Don’t leave this to a human in the office, they make mistakes. Put your trust in a professional IT company which can look after you valuable business data correctly.

4. Insufficient Technical Support

We have heard them all here, ‘I don’t need help with my computers because….:
• A family member helps me,
• The kid from down the road is good with computers, he/she helps me,
• I know a guy,
• A computer guy from the local bank helps us,
• Etc etc.’
Do you trust your haircut to a ‘guy you know’? So why would you trust the survivability of your valuable business data, your income, the income of your staff, your retirement to a person you know?
A business needs professional IT support. Yes, it costs money, but that money is easily recouped by computers that do what they are meant to do, run faster, are more stable and are safe to use.

5. Running On Old Tired Computers

Whether it is the computer or the software installed on it, it must be up to date.Computers get twice as fast every 18 months, the software that we use is written knowing this and will use twice as much horsepower every 18 months.
All the software on the PCs should be updated regularly to keep the PCs stable and secure. Ideally, PCs should be replaced every 3-4 years if you want efficient use of staff.

6. Power Protection

The power we have in Saskatoon is not the most stable. Even a small spike could destroy a computer.
Ensure that correctly sized surge protection and battery packs are used for all the network equipment.

7. Unprotected Email Systems

Businesses should not be using businessname@sasktel/hotmail/gmail.com for a few reasons:

It looks unprofessional,
These free systems have no protection for the business from
– Spam
– Virus payloads
– Dangerous links
– Unsolicited emails

Email continues to be the most dangerous interaction a company can have with the outside world, being the main delivery system of viruses, spyware and ransomware.
Also, the amount of time spent by staff dealing with the torrent of unsolicited emails is staggering. When staff are spending time on emails with no benefit to the business, this can hit the bottom line hard.
Obtain the services of a business grade email system. For the cost of only $10 per month per mailbox, it is a small price to pay and your staff will be much more effective.

8. Paying As You Go

Remember the good old days when you would call out a plumber to fix your toilet and the cost would increase every time he/she breathed in. Pay as you go computer guys/gals are still working this way.
Today this is not the best way to keep your business ticking over. It is not about how fast the computer person can fix a problem, it is about not having the problem in the first place.
Any computer support company in Saskatoon worth its salt must have proactive services in place, daily hardware tests to ensure PCs are running effectively, warning systems that inform of problems before they happen, and managed and monitored systems to keep your network safe from the outside world.

9. Waiting For A Problem

Computer networks can be a very complicated environment. When a problem does occur the last thing a business owner needs is a computer guy turning up and taking 4 hours to understand the network before being able to diagnose an issue and then begin to fix it.
Engage with a professional IT support company which will get to know your network from top to bottom. Ensure they manage and monitor the network, this way they can notice problems before they cause issues and can fix them more quickly.

10. Buy Nice Or Buy Twice

In an effort to save money many people buy less expensive equipment, resulting in PCs/routers/switches and many other devices which simply do not work for them. Again, speak with a professional IT service provider in Saskatoon.

There are many areas of an IT ecosystem which can cause bottlenecks:

• PCs which are underpowered for the software,
• Switches that are too slow for the network’s requirements,
• Routers that are misconfigured,
• Wifi points which are not built for business use or are miss-located,
• Poor cabling.

This requires struggling with what you have and having staff who are underperforming, or it means buying a second time.

If you need any help with any of these Top 10 computer network mistakes, do not hesitate to reach out to the Saskatoon IT and network security team at Burnt Orange Solutions.

We hope this article gave you some insight. If you want to ensure your business’s IT security, contact the Trusted Saskatoon IT professionals at Burnt Orange Solutions and we can take IT worries off your plate.

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