We all use technology in our daily lives, but businesses have a responsibility to our employees, clients, and customers to make sure the technology being use meets the requirements to get the job done right. Today, we are going to cover the risks to cyber security, productivity, data, and revenue that come with utilizing old technology.

Cybersecurity

Utilizing old technology can put your company’s, employees’, and customers data at risk. Everyone hears about the major cyber attacks, but according to Statista there were 668 data breaches in 2018 with an average loss of $25 million dollars[1]. While these losses may not directly hit your income statement, they raise everyone’s insurance and can harm business reputation.

Cyber security in the construction industry has become especially important. With many business owners not really understanding that control systems are computers that serve a specific purpose, making sure that your clients HVAC systems are not an easy gateway for hackers to access the building is critical. The proper training and support on how networks work is critical for anyone working with building automation.

Keeping your systems up to date and maintaining proper cybersecurity standards help protect your business and your stakeholder’s information. These risks become even greater if you are using operating systems that are no longer supported by the manufacturer, such as Windows XP and Windows 7 (starting on January 14, 2020)[2]. Maryland Computer Service offers managed cyber security support for all types of businesses including health care. For more information, visit us here.

Productivity

                Productivity is defined as the GDP divided by the number hours used to create the GDP, or on a company level, Revenue divided by hours. Between 2007 and 2016, U.S. productivity is the lowest it has been since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started measuring it in 1948[3]. While there can be many causes for this, technology that is not up to date can hinder productivity.

If an entire network crashes, HIS conducted a study finding that North American companies lose approximately $546 Billion in productivity just from network crashes[4]. Properly updating software, removing unnecessary files, and upgrading hardware are some things that can be done to increase system performance and decrease the negative impact on productivity. For assistance with ensuring your network is operating under optimal conditions, learn more here.

Loss of Data

                All equipment has a useful life span and becomes no longer cost effective to continue using. For example, if a hard drive crashes, everything on it could be lost. While there are ways to recover information, it is best to have routinely scheduled backups created so that company information is not lost.  The frequency of backups can be different for each organization, but nothing is more frustrating than losing valuable information to failed hardware. The average hard drive can be expected to last 3-5 years, while a 1 TB Solid State Drive is estimated to be good for up to 343 years. We’ll get back to you in three centuries on whether this proves to be true, but obviously using SSD will protect your data for much longer than a standard hard drive.

                In addition, utilizing cloud storage can help you rest easy, knowing you always have your entire network backed up by Microsoft’s cloud services. We are happy to help you set up cloud storage backup so that you can always rest assured that you will never lose critical information. To learn more about the cloud services Maryland Computer Service offers, click here.

Loss of Revenue

You are ringing up a customer and they pull out their credit card, swipe it, and your network is down. What do you do? If the customer doesn’t have cash, you might have lost a sale. As this goes on those sales can add up quickly. According to HIS, nearly $119 billion of revenue is lost every year in North America from network crashes.[5]

Unfortunately, almost every business experiences network failure at some point. As much as we would love to tell you that we have figured out a cost-effective way to 100% eliminate network failures, we can’t. We can make sure your network is up to date and secured so that you can focus on providing the best service possible to your clients.

Through the culmination of Maryland Computer Service’s, we can offer you a comprehensive plan to protect your business from mot of the risks associated with outdated technology. We offer cyber security solutions, Microsoft Azure and Office 365 cloud solutions, managed IT, and tech support. Utilizing our full range of services will give you the peace of mind to know that you are providing your business, customers, and employees with the technology needed to get the job done right. Should you have a network outage, our highly trained staff will help you get up and running so that you can do what you do best!

To learn more about the services we offer, visit  us here or contact us.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/273550/data-breaches-recorded-in-the-united-states-by-number-of-breaches-and-records-exposed/

[2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet?fbclid=IwAR0_KWRNROXYKzd5TavtBSz0vs1D3q9TqddbgmoWNL9tJQ5QrTmOZCgFxa8

[3] https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-6/mobile/below-trend-the-us-productivity-slowdown-since-the-great-recession.htm?fbclid=IwAR2DApEUMgsrBa0o_P9KYcfZC3qw6_qgl8Pq4T2fCiant2CqY86w4-isF48

[4] https://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/high-price-it-downtime/856595126?fbclid=IwAR1dBPxIDxMOG7_VjTbvSclKZj8l6etwi_0c7TnDcovU5AQrREYvHec-X-A

[5] https://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/high-price-it-downtime/856595126?fbclid=IwAR1dBPxIDxMOG7_VjTbvSclKZj8l6etwi_0c7TnDcovU5AQrREYvHec-X-A