Has Your Tech Passed its “Best Before” Date?

Dennis Snider

529 Posts

461 views

0

New technology is expensive and replacing or updating your old kit can be disruptive. However, if you decide to soldier on with ancient technology you could be doing your business serious harm.

Older technology can lead to increased stress among the workforce. Whether or not they vocalize it, workers struggling with technology that isn’t fit for purpose or continually breaks down will be stressed, and stress reduces productivity and motivation, and increases absenteeism. It has been shown that staff working with the latest technology will enjoy their jobs more and be more productive.

Any business, to succeed, relies on the correct procedures being followed. When IT doesn’t properly function, people start deviating from procedure and taking shortcuts, which leads to disruptions to processes, confusion, inefficiency, and errors.

Cyber-attacks are a fact of life for any company operating anywhere in the world; the older your technology is, particularly your operating systems, the easier it is for malicious actors to breach your security. Updating your technology could be expensive, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what you could lose in terms of goodwill, compensation payments, stolen funds, and government fines if hackers get into your system. Furthermore, older technology may not be compliant with the demands of modern payment card systems, for example, leaving you with liability for all losses.

If your technology is so old that it is continually breaking down, you will lose customers. They will simply find a competitor who can offer them a more reliable service. You’ll be paying out with both hands, because as well as losing customers, old technology will inevitably require expensive callouts for expert assistance on a regular basis.

Older technology is also less efficient in many ways: not only could you dramatically reduce your energy bills with newer technology, being able to run the latest collaborative team working applications such as Microsoft Teams could mean you can get by with fewer staff, making massive savings. You will also be able to increase your efficiency by attracting and retaining high-quality personnel; the best people demand the best equipment, they won’t want to work for someone who can’t provide that – you’ll also be able to offer better working conditions, with more options for home working, flexible hours, etc.

So, you can see the benefits to new technology, but how often should you upgrade? As a rule of thumb, you should upgrade your office desktops and laptops round about every three years, and you should upgrade your operating system every time your provider brings out a new version.