You'll miss me when I'm gone

You'll miss me when I'm gone

“You’ll miss me when I’m gone” is a phrase I've heard various (older) family members say to me, usually as I roll my eyes at the latest bit of wisdom they've decided to impart.

However, it’s apt for business IT. In the last couple of weeks we've seen how a seemingly small 'software update' resulted in a broad outage of NatWest’s banking systems. It even led to an unheard of step: bank branches opening on a Sunday.

If, like NatWest, IT is at the heart of your business then what are the implications of such a problem if it happens to you? What should you do to maintain reliability?

We take IT for granted

IT has become a hidden service that we take for granted. The internet, once derided as a fad, is now a key service in our lives. From shopping and booking travel to connecting with friends and researching school projects, it’s essential.

What’s more, people have started to view broadband as a basic human right, almost in the same league as water, food and sanitation. This is the level to which the internet has risen in just over 15 years. It demonstrates how important IT is to our everyday lives.

If you run a business then this trend will have spread into your world too. It was not that long ago that IT was the preserve of the accounts department who used it to process payroll. But today it’s used by every member of staff for almost everything they do.

If your business depends on IT, do you give it the attention required to keep it beating at the heart of your company? There are four simple steps you can take to make sure your IT provides good service – day in and day out:

1.  Buy the right equipment

I recently visited a prospective client who wanted to set up a call centre. Staff would use their computers as the base from which to make calls and update their customer relationship management (CRM) database. They told me they were planning to buy refurbished (second-hand) computers to keep costs down.

My advice? If you plan to base your company on a database that requires reliable IT, second-hand equipment is a false economy.

That doesn’t mean you have to buy super-expensive business computers. But most well-known brands offer PCs with a three-year warranty and next-day help if you need it. What’s more, buy business-grade IT, not computers designed for domestic use. There’s a difference – and it could mean you get a PC that lasts four years instead of two.

2.  Monitor your systems

There are many free or cheap services out there that can monitor your systems for problems like low disk space, a failing networking connection or high memory use. These services are simple to install and can be combined to create a single web page that puts a green, amber or red dot next to each IT asset to show its status.

Two good tools are GFI and CentraStage – they’re free for the first 30 days, and can give you a valuable glimpse of how your IT is operating (or not).

3.  Audit your equipment

This one’s easy. The main aim of auditing is to stay ahead of the IT age curve. A computer’s average lifespan is three to five years, so it makes sense to look at replacing each computer once it’s four years old. If you don’t know how old your equipment is then you can’t make that assessment.

The simplest approach is to note the purchase date of all assets in your business. Then rank them in order, newest at the top, oldest at the bottom. If any computers are over five years old, replace them immediately. Put any over four years old on a list for replacement soon. Keep updating your list and you’ll stay on top of your hardware replacement (this helps spread the costs too).

4.  Take security seriously

I see too many companies that don’t take their IT security seriously. They think staff will self-manage things like spending hours on Facebook or emailing friends from a work computer. Of course, they don’t – so you need to manage this through a policy or software.

Internet security is a large and growing problem. Simply going to the wrong website can result in malware, spyware and unwanted software ending up on your computers. Stop this, and you’ll significantly reduce the chance of system failure.

Following these simple steps will help ensure your IT systems stay working to the best of their ability: as a vital business tool that helps to generate revenue. As my old Gran always used to say, "you'll miss me when I'm gone".

Craig Sharp is Managing Director of Abussi Ltd

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