Business has gone digital. IT is now so important for business that your IT infrastructure could make or break your chances for success.
Here are 7 key elements to your small business's IT infrastructure.
1. Experts Assemble!
Strong IT infrastructure for small business starts with an expert team. IT isn't a layman's game and your infrastructure can only be as good as the expertise you can access.
That's where many small businesses struggle. Without the spare cash needed for a dedicated in-house IT team small businesses end up making do. Outsourcing to IT managed service providers is a popular flexible way to overcome that hurdle.
2. Hack Attack
Cyber threats are some of the largest a modern business will face. Even large businesses have fallen victim to high-profile cybersecurity attacks. Small businesses often lack the infrastructure to repel such an attack.
Small businesses can't erase the possibility of a cyberattack but they can control risk. By investing in cybersecurity at the infrastructure level you reduce the probability that your business will be targeted and create resilience if the
worst should happen.
3. A Matter of Scale
A small business may expand quickly or need to shrink its operation in lean times. That provides a challenge for IT infrastructure which can be one of the harder elements to scale.
Building your infrastructure with scalability in mind can help you navigate this problem. Design your infrastructure with an eye on the future.
4. The Flexible Approach
A flexible small business can pursue opportunities its inflexible competitors can't which is reason enough to consider it at the infrastructure stage.
Consider how likely it is that your company will need flexible technologies like remote working. Baking these into your infrastructure will be more painless in the long-term than trying to retrofit them later.
5. Storage Solutions
The days of a business needing enormous server racks are gone.
Storage is easier than ever for small businesses thanks to flexible scalable cloud storage. Small businesses can now access the storage capacity of a business ten times its size with just a subscription to a cloud service.
6. Talking It Over
The underpinning philosophy of most enterprise IT is communication. That could be the emails your employees use to coordinate work or the communication between steps in your fulfillment chain.
Whatever the case your plans for your communication infrastructure should be some of the most robust to ensure your IT is doing its job.
7. Make It Train
The final piece of the IT infrastructure puzzle lies with the end-user. Even in 2020 many employees won't have the level of IT literacy to use your infrastructure to its full potential.
So it's time for some good old-fashioned training to get everyone up to speed. User know-how is as much a critical part of your infrastructure as the technical side of things.
IT Infrastructure Design Done Right
With these 7 key elements in mind you can get your IT infrastructure right first time. Strong foundations like these form an excellent base for future growth so nailing your IT infrastructure will pay off both now and in the future.
