Regular maintenance of your IT systems helps your systems to run more smoothly as well as reduce the risk of them breaking down. A well maintained IT environment should ensure your staff and business has no technology roadblocks that hamper productivity and will also lead to a reduction in support costs.
How you might ask, does IT maintenance do these things…
Let’s start with, basic IT maintenance: this involves the archiving of old files, deleting duplicate files, freeing up space, updating and patching your systems and antivirus. These items don’t seem all that bad to leave for some time without being completed….but if left too long they can lead to small issues with big impact. Unmaintained files and storage systems can lead to slow servers and storage devices and create storage problems in the future. While a slight reduction in the boot time of your PC, or the time it takes to access your server seems negligible, compounded over months this can lead to massive losses of productivity of your staff in doing their day-to-day tasks. Unpatched or updated systems or antivirus can lead to malicious access to your systems through recognised vulnerabilities and a seemly innocent looking website.
On top of the basic IT maintenance tasks you have backups. System backups are a critical part of a business’s continuity and quite often not placed with enough importance. Most businesses don’t realise that as a registered Australian business, you are required to keep seven years of financial records. These records include all “invoices, receipts, cheques, working papers and any other documents needed to explain the methods by which the financial reports are prepared.” According to ASIC, these records should also be kept electronically. If you were to be asked, could you go back seven years and provide all the financial records you need to?
It is also important to know that IT maintenance is not just the regular tasks performed on you PC or servers, it also involves your IT documentation. All too often this is overlooked and when something goes wrong with your system…where do you go to gain knowledge of the systems and how they were setup?
Regular basic maintenance will help prolong the life of your servers and workstations and reduce the likelihood of downtime or performance issues being experienced.
Are your secure in the knowledge that your IT systems are being maintained and your site documentation is up to date?
If you have answered No to this question, please Contact Us for a free no obligation consultation.
Let us work with you on ensuring your systems are running as they should be and you can rest safe with the knowledge that your IT is working for you and not against you.
