Is It Time for a Technology Refresh?

Your business is always looking for ways to improve its operations. The more efficiently you do business, the more productive your company will be. To accelerate this growth many businesses look to information technology to build that added efficiency. Today, we will go over when you should consider upgrading your systems, and what benefits you can see from doing so. 

Are Your Computers Functioning Consistently?

The first telltale sign that you need new computers is if they are seemingly always having problems. Older technology is often troublesome, and if you have computers that are causing your IT administrator to pull his/her hair out, it is probably time to get some new hardware. Symptoms of this include system crashing, slower-than-normal performance, or applications closing randomly on their own. Not every PC is always going to function optimally, but when your hardware gets old, the problems will increase, and with them comes downtime.

These signs aren’t always obvious, however. If you are having trouble with a couple systems, but others seem to be functioning fine, you will want to have your IT admin take a look at the underlying metrics of those machines’ performance, especially if they are over four years old. Some users are more apt to use machines that have time-caused glitches and eroding performance, and may not feel as if a new computer is necessary or warranted.

Older hardware is often problematic when it comes to security too. This is especially true if your older hardware is running older software. Developers do their best to provide software patches for older software, but if IT staff doesn’t diligently patch the software, or if the software is no longer supported, a business may have no choice but to upgrade.

Additionally, there are the financial matters involved. Firstly, if your IT isn’t functioning in the manner it has in the past, there is the presence of more downtime, and it stands to reason that productivity would go down. This will cut into expected revenues. Secondly, innovative new technologies can be deployed in several manners, which presents different payment models in which to choose from. No longer does new hardware have to strictly be a massive capital outlay, it can be acquired as an operational expense through the cloud. It’s ultimately up to you, but if you need to upgrade, you should try to do it sooner rather than later. 

How To Upgrade

For the average business, finding upgrades to their technology isn’t a simple process. Not only do you have to have the available capital (or credit) to get all new machines, you have to have the staff available to configure them, remove bloatware, and get them ready for your business. This is not cheap, but the increase in output that you will see from new hardware should provide a fairly rapid ROI.

This is where Network Solutions Unlimited comes in. Even if you have a team of dedicated IT technicians on staff, chances are that their day-to-day responsibilities will keep them from moving quickly on a hardware refresh. Our knowledgeable technicians can not only place you next to some of the best technology vendors in the industry, our staff can help you get your cabling completed, hardware installed, and your company’s network set up fast. 

If you aren’t sure if you should be planning for a hardware refresh, you probably should be. Call us today at (217) 428-6449 to talk to one of our consultants about getting the computers your business needs.