Do You Know How (and Why) You Should Refresh Your Business’ Hardware?

Businesses rely on their hardware in order to maintain their operations. Perhaps obvious, but no less true for it. This makes it critical that you do everything you can to keep your hardware in fighting shape. Computer equipment doesn’t last forever. In turn, this will require you to implement a hardware refresh cycle.

Let’s go over what a hardware refresh cycle is, what it allows you to do, and how to go about planning it.

In actuality, a hardware refresh cycle is the decisive and strategic upgrade process that involves both the hardware and even software that your business relies upon, improving its capabilities and performance by replacing it with a more effective option.

It’s very important that you time your hardware refreshes properly. Carry one out too soon, and you’re apt to spend money that didn’t need to be spent. Carry one out too late, and failing hardware will lose you even more time, and business to boot. Timing it correctly, however, will give you assorted benefits.

What Kind of Benefits Does a Hardware Refresh Give Your Business?

Reduced Downtime

As you might expect, newer hardware will be less prone to the errors and issues that often impact older devices. As a result, downtime becomes far less prevalent, creating less of an issue for your team members to contend with over time. 

Boosted Security, Communication, and Productivity

Each of these factors can be and are directly impacted by the technology that a business is using. Remember, the refresh process includes your utilized software, so regularly adopting the improved version will help your business keep up with progress. Likewise, it is important that you keep your hardware equally updated to ensure that you have the opportunity to utilize the most up-to-date software, giving you access to better security, more effective communication, and dependable productivity.

Cost Savings

As odd as it may sound, investing in improved IT has the very real potential to ultimately bring you some considerable cost savings, despite the labor and acquisition costs that will be incurred. Outdated equipment and the like can easily rack up much larger bills in terms of maintenance and labor, not to mention the chance that you could face unexpected equipment replacements that would rack up even more considerable costs.

How to Approach the Refresh Process

Let’s try to simplify your hardware refresh processes through some proactive planning, starting with…

Know What Your Business Requires

When seeking to improve your hardware, the first data you need to have is what you actually need in order to make the desired improvements to your business. How much storage capacity do you need? What software will you have to run? With this data assembled, how much improvement can you afford at the moment?

Audit Your Current Technology

How close are you to the baseline you want to achieve? This is important, as it helps you to identify where a refresh would be most impactful, helping you avoid unnecessary investments and spend your budgeted funds more efficiently.

Consider All Options

It is also important to remember that there are alternatives that don’t require refreshing your hardware. Adopting virtualization, turning to the cloud, or consolidating some of your servers are all potential options that you could consider, depending on your specific situation. We’d be happy to help you make these determinations, too, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Plan for the Future

Strategy makes all the difference in how effective your hardware refresh will wind up being. Consider starting the process with some of your less critical hardware so any issues that do pop up create minimal issues and can be adjusted appropriately.

We’re Here to Help

Reach out to us at (978) 482-2020 to find out just how we can do so.