IT director Sara and her team spend their days trying to keep her company’s outdated IT infrastructure working.
Sales complains almost daily about how the ancient CRM system is painfully slow and doesn’t do what they need it to do. Production has had some worrying data losses from all-too-frequent system crashes. And accounting has had a couple of close calls with viruses now that their systems are no longer receiving regular updates and patches.
Sara has gone to her CTO with these complaints, asking for the budget to update the infrastructure. To fix everything would require a huge overhaul and significant system downtime. The CTO has gone into budget and planning meetings with these requests, only to have resources go to other departments—departments that can’t run efficiently without a working IT infrastructure.
Now legal is reporting that the company is no longer in compliance with several industry regulations. If they don’t fix the problem immediately, the fines will end what was once a promising midsize company and everyone will be out of a job.
Sound familiar?
While your company might not be at risk of being put out of business, it’s likely that it is one of the many companies that wait too long to upgrade their IT infrastructure. Instead of regularly investing a modest amount in tech, they put projects off until they become a huge investment and a massive challenge to complete. And waiting can inflict damage all throughout the company that you can’t repair.
It’s a common complaint. An IDC survey of 1,000 enterprise worldwide found the following:
· More than 40% of respondents experienced downtimes due to system failures.
· Nearly 40% experienced latency and performance issues.
· 30% experienced delays in IT deployments due to power or space constraints.
Respondents planned to address these issues in several ways, including:
· Invest in more advanced critical infrastructure.
· Hire more staff.
· Use a third party to maintain critical infrastructure.
· Move to or build a new data center.
For midsize companies, many of these solutions are out of reach. Once a problem has become system-wide, the budget and work required become a huge strain on a growing company, especially when the focus is on increasing sales and production output.
What if there were a better way? What if the IT team of a midsize company could approach infrastructure in a way that meshes with a growth mindset instead of using a strategy better suited to large companies (and often forced on small companies)?
It can be done. But to do it, you need to be proactive.
Assess the Reality of Your IT Infrastructure
If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you know that I’m going to tell you to start with a realistic review of your current situation and a solid strategy that lets you handle problems before they’re too big to solve.
Your review should cover hardware, software, network performance, and security protocols. Ask questions like:
· What does your IT team spend time fixing over and over?
· What are the most common complaints they get?
· What security vulnerabilities are you facing?
· What regulations are you in danger of not following?
· Where are the performance lags?
· What tech is no longer being updated or will soon no longer be updated?
· What do different departments want to do but can’t because of the infrastructure?
· What workflows could be improved with upgraded tech?
Don’t skip those last questions. Get a wish list going and consider how you might fulfill it. How much more could the company grow if staff had the right tools? How much smoother could the work become? How much more productive could people become?
The Benefits of a Modular IT Infrastructure
Once you complete your review, it’s time to build a strategy to not just fix the problems but avoid them in future and grow the infrastructure in a manageable way.
A modular IT infrastructure meets all these requirements.
A modular infrastructure means you can work on the infrastructure in discreet pieces, keeping budget and staff at sustainable levels. You won’t need to ask for huge budget increases that will inevitably be denied. And you won’t need to figure out how to fit big projects into IT’s schedule and pull the network down for everyone.
You can grow your infrastructure in line with the company’s growth. Need more networking power because the company added remote staff? You can do that. Need to increase security because of new regulations? You can do that, too.
You can also switch priorities, increasing networking speed by decreasing underutilized storage space, for example.
You can even decrease your infrastructure as needed, potentially saving money and definitely saving staff time. The road to business success isn’t always straightforward; sometimes we need to pull back and regroup before we can move forward. Creating an IT infrastructure that can support that pull-back is a huge win.
Need a little support? Seek out vendors who will help with setup, repairs, and upgrades. It’s likely that you’ll have to balance support against costs, but outside support for a team that’s stretched thin, especially during a crisis, can resolve issues faster and more effectively without busting your budget.
Actively Manage Your Modular Infrastructure
For your modular infrastructure to work, though, you can’t just put it into place and walk away. You’ll just find yourself back in the same old situation of performance issues, security and compliance challenges, and resource constraints. A modular infrastructure is easier for a midsize company to manage, but it must be managed.
It should go without saying that part of your IT director’s job is to maintain the infrastructure resolving issues as they occur.
Just as important, though, is keeping your IT director aware of planned business growth.
· What will new products or services require from the infrastructure?
· What support will new staff or new offices need?
· What kind of stress will an increase in staff working remotely put on the infrastructure?
· Are there M&As on the horizon? What will that mean for your IT infrastructure?
· What additional resources will be needed next year? In the next two to three years?
The more insight your IT department has into anticipated needs, the better they can prepare for them.
Plan for Growth and Win
Ultimately, you want to create a modular infrastructure plan that you can implement over time. Sketch out an infrastructure that allows you to meet business needs as required with the resources you have.
Identify what’s most crucial to upgrade and put that at the top of the list. Then put the rest in a logical order. If you plan on purchasing new laptops that will depend on a faster network, better upgrade the network first. And plan to replace tech as it ages to keep ahead of major issues.
The result won’t just be an IT infrastructure that works for your business. It will be a happier, more productive workforce and a smoother progression toward your company’s goals.
Erin Brenner is the owner of Right Touch Editing, a boutique editorial agency that specializes in helping small and midsize businesses to be more engaging with their audiences, more persuasive in their marketing, and clearer and more precise in their communications.
Erin is also the author of The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors: How to Take Care of Your Business, Your Clients, and Yourself from Start-Up to Sustainability, Marketing Yourself Guide (with Sarah Hulse), Copyediting’s Grammar Tune-Up Workbook, and 1001 Words for Success: Synonyms, Antonyms & Homonyms. She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute for Editing and Proofreading and a Full Member of ACES. Follow her on LinkedIn and Bluesky.