Most Common IT Investment Mistakes

If you are not a trained professional in the IT field, making technical decisions can be overwhelming. A reputable Managed Service Provider can offer expert consulting for all your IT needs. For that reason, Integrated Computer Services has a staff of highly trained and experienced technicians that are specialized in working with all types of hardware, software and networks.

As a New Jersey IT support firm, over the years we have witnessed our fair share of avoidable mishaps when it comes to clients making important network decisions without proper advisement. We strongly recommend that our partners run everything by network administrators before implementing any changes or purchasing new technology. In the business world money has gone to waste on behalf of poor technical decisions made by people who didn't exactly know what they were doing.

Sometimes the smallest occurrences can be responsible for bringing down entire business networks. Below is a list of the most common avoidable mistakes that we have seen made in IT.

• Ignoring or failing to get staff input is a very common mistake that we see made by ICS partners. In order to get a feel for what will be best for the business you must first gather input from the individuals who will be using these technologies on a regular basis. We suggest finding out what they dislike about the previous technology and use this information when deciding on the newer version. You will be surprised how much input you will get from an employee who works with the software or technology on a regular basis. This input can be used in order to make things more productive and inevitably save the business money. If you implement new technology that the employees dislike or find difficult to use, it will hurt productivity.
• Always keep your budget in mind when it comes to making network changes. Often we have seen businesses implement too many network changes at once, failing to realize that they are way over budget. This makes it more difficult and longer to complete and leaves your network in a state of construction for damaging amounts of time. It's never good for the money to run out before the project is complete. This is threatening to productivity and will bring unnecessary stress to the company.
• The newest technology is not necessarily the best for your situation. It is a common misconception that the newer technology is always the best. Although there are instances where NEW technology may be the best option, however in most cases this is far from the truth. No two networks are identical, with this said there is no way every new technology is the best for your situation. There are so many different factors that come into play, decisions like this should only be made by a highly skilled professional to make sure you get the best performance and product for your company. You must remember, the newest is not always the best.
• Not all hardware and software are compatible with each other. Some things just are not able to coexist, certain software is not supported by other software or applications. This is where things get very technical. Before purchasing any hardware or software you must deeply investigate what you are looking into and how it will work with other aspects of your network. We have seen partners purchase software without consulting with us first and come across endless errors. This wastes your company's time as well as ICS's. This has the ability of also being detrimental to productivity, because now ICS must diagnose the issue and find out what the changes were that you made, and how to fix it. The proper procedure would be to make sure you thoroughly investigate any network changes before implementing them. Not all hardware and software play nice with one another.
• Neglecting to train employees on the proper way to work with newly implemented technology is also a very common occurrence. This is very harmful for business. Most networks are very fragile and delicate, a simple mouse click on the wrong link could bring your entire network down. It is very crucial that all employees are properly trained for the technology they will be using from day to day. The biggest mistake you can make would be to assume that every employee is computer literate and knows exactly what they are doing. Your businesses' network is not something you want to take chances on. Cover all your bases and make sure all users are informed and comfortable working with their systems and applications.

Being aware of these common mistakes will save company time and funds. Making these common practice will ensure that the future of your business network will be in a more productive state. Always take precautions, investigate, and never assume anything!

Integrated Computer Services is always here for you to answer any of your questions no matter how silly you think it might be. We can save you from unnecessary down time.