A 4-step checklist to knowing your SMB’s technology better, Pt. 2
Earlier, we talked about how important it is to know your company’s technology. The more you understand how everything works, the more likely it is you can keep your technology healthy and operational. And as a result, it’ll be much easier for everyone to do their jobs.
Let’s continue this conversation and take a quick look at a few other vital components of your infrastructure and the most important things you need to pay attention to.
Network Printers
It’s easy to write off the importance of functioning printers, but that would be a mistake. When your printers don’t work, then downtime and stress will become a daily thing.
So to avoid that, there are two key things you need to pay attention to.
One is the IP address. Your printers should typically be on a static IP — which means the IP address stays the same and never refreshes. This will help your connected devices remember and quickly connect to your printer.
You should also consider the supplies that keep your printer printing — like ink and paper. Who is in charge of ordering those supplies? Can your printer send your admin automatic updates when new supplies are required? Sort these details out and your printer will run much more efficiently.
Internet Connections
At this point, a company’s internet connection matters more than most anything else in the typical infrastructure. If your connection isn’t a good one, then internal productivity will suffer.
Obviously, this means you need to make sure that you’ve partnered with the right ISP from the get-go. You should also consider setting up a failover connection — this means that if one connection goes down, another one pops up in its place.
However, if you’re going to use a second connection, then you need to make sure the settings and IP addresses mirror each other. If the settings don’t match, the devices won’t be able to find and connect to each other if the second connection ever goes live (consider those printers and the devices trying to find them).
Wireless Network Devices
Again, that internet connection matters a lot, and this can easily have an effect on how mobile devices latch onto your network. In this case, you need to consider access points and physically track which areas in your building currently have the best internet coverage.
From here, you need to determine which places in your building need the best coverage. Any places with spotty coverage can be enhanced with additional access points.
Phone System
Most businesses are starting (or have already completed) a transition to VoIP, and if this is the case for your business, then there’s one very important thing you need to pay attention to.
User management.
You see, one great benefit of VoIP is mobility. You can transfer calls to connected devices and keep the conversations flowing seamlessly.
However, most businesses forget to remove older users, and as a result, numbers are routed incorrectly. Imagine what would happen if a client’s phone call was routed to an ex-employee? It wouldn’t be good. So make sure you routinely go through your settings to clean things up and take things out.
Hardware, gadgets, and devices aren’t the only things you need to understand about your infrastructure. You also need to be well aware of where your data is and how it’s being processed, accessed, and stored. Take a look at 5 backup terms you need to know to learn more about data backup.
