Welcome to the 4th quarter. Now is the time to step out of the office and reflect upon what 2017 brought you (good and bad), and start strategizing for 2018. Have you planned your off-site strategic planning for 2018?
In your offsite planning session, you need to think about IT too. That is, if you don’t want it to bite you later on. Here are a few things to include in your planning:
- Bring in department heads – what do they have cooking?
- Are there special considerations, like new people and equipment to budget for?
- What goals do you have for 2018 – and what do you need to achieve them?
One hotel’s goal was to get customer satisfaction to 93%. They discovered that wireless performance is the number one thing that drives hotel guest satisfaction – not the room, not the beds, not the breakfast. By spending a few thousand dollars on wireless infrastructure, they easily hit their goal.
Don’t let 2018 be another year of costly IT surprises. Here are 6 things you need to plan for before 2018:
- When does your equipment’s life cycle end? To ensure continuous operations, don’t wait to replace your equipment when it breaks. Your employees will be most productive with equipment still supported by the manufacturer and current with the latest technology.
- Are equipment warranties expiring? Replace equipment before warranties expire. If you let those warranties expire, you’re just asking for trouble. Expensive trouble.
- Do you have enough wireless access points? (do you really?) Even as little as five years ago, a couple of access points served companies well. Today, though, with multiple devices accessing wireless, traffic on your network has increased significantly.
- How old are those routers, anyway? If you’re located in downtown Holland, fiber internet is being installed. To access this speed, routers over 18 months old need to be replaced or they will not perform well. Note: even if you’re not downtown, area internet providers are scrambling to be competitive. Faster internet is coming and you need to be prepared.
- Will you be adding staff? If you’re increasing your workforce, your managed services cost may go up as the support is typically based upon the number of employees in a business. You also might need new equipment and additional infrastructure, depending on your growth plans. Update your budget to accommodate this.
- Shouldn’t you have someone else doing this for you? Instead of waiting until there is a problem, a managed services provider like Macatawa Technologies can serve as your vCIO to do the planning with you. We help you plan for your goals, review your progress and identify where technology can make your business better.
If you’re hiding under your desk pretending next year isn’t coming, you’re missing some fantastic weather – and you’re not helping your business any. Come on out and make a plan for 2018.
Need some help planning for 2018? Macatawa Technologies is ready get your technology ready for the New Year. Contact us for year-end planning.
