How much of an emphasis do you put on technology in your workplace?
If the answer is not much, you should seriously consider changing that way of thinking the second half of this year and into 2017 and beyond.When it comes to technology, your business has so much to gain and so little to lose in using it.From making your employees as productive as they can be to keeping customers as happy as possible, technology can do so many positive things in your workplace.
Where Might You Have I.T. Shortcomings?
In assessing your technology pros and cons in the workplace, what are some areas you might feel need improvement?
For starters, how secure are your employees when it comes to handling customer information?
Given that many businesses nowadays have most if not all of their customer data online, it is important that online security is as strong as possible. It just takes one lapse in judgment on the part of one employee to cause havoc.
As episodes of identity theft have grown in the public eye in recent years, more employers (especially in fields such as healthcare) are becoming aware of just how serious a threat this truly can be.
One way to greatly lessen such a threat is by having an I.T. consultant in your corner.
Those running I.T. consulting companies are well versed in giving businesses (and some individuals for that matter) the knowledge and know-how to best put technology to use, albeit reducing the threat of being hacked along the way.
Technology companies in Washington, D.C. know all too well how important technology is in keeping the nation’s capital going.
Whether your business is in the D.C. Beltway area or on the other side of the country, your technology needs should never be taken for granted. In the event they are, you run the risk of losing customers left and right, something that could end up proving to be financially devastating.
That said here are some things to consider when looking for the right I.T. consultant for your business:
- Experience – First and foremost, how long have they been in the tech consulting business? In the event they are rather new to the industry, don’t automatically exclude them from consideration just because they do not have a long track record behind them. In some cases, finding someone with a newer approach on how to handle important technology ideas might be worth looking into. On the flip side, experience is certainly hard to overcome. If you find a tech consulting company with years and years of experience, they’re obviously doing something right to stay in business for such a longer period of time. Learning from them, applying their expertise to your business, and knowing you can lean on them in the event you run into I.T. issues, can prove to be a very comfortable feeling;
- Customer service – Even the best I.T. folks in the world will do you little good if their customer service is not what it should be. One of the challenges you may find is how to go about learning how reliable one’s customer service truly is? Given you likely have never worked with them in the past; you’re essentially going off of reputation and perhaps some referrals from others in the workplace. With that being the case, do your best to dig down and find out how much of an emphasis each I.T. consulting company you consider working with values customer service. Finally, if you have companies inside or outside your industry that you are friendly with, feel free to ask them about whom they might recommend for tech consulting. In many cases, word-of-mouth is how one relationship leads to the next one.
With technology growing at leaps and bounds on a yearly basis, businesses have little to no choice but to embrace it.In doing so, it is important that they have consulting help along the way to best master this important need in the business world.If you have been known to drop the ball on occasion with your I.T. needs, do a reverse course moving ahead.
Face it; you can’t afford to be green when it comes to your business technology needs.
