Technology sits at the core of each business in the modern digital world. From business process automation to digital transformation and business intelligence, businesses benefit from technology to streamline their core operations, minimize operating costs, increase agility, and gain rapid insights into changing market trends.

The aftermath of the pandemic has highlighted the importance of implementing and utilizing the right technology tools for businesses to keep them operational under unforeseen circumstances or economic conditions. However, implementing, maintaining, and upgrading information technology is not as smooth as it may seem. An organization’s success in implementing an IT strategy will be largely determined by how well the technical team will translate this strategy into practical applications. Not to mention how effectively the organization can handle some of the most common tech problems during implementation, maintenance, and upgrades. Ignoring even the most common IT problems can negatively affect a business’s growth and quickly multiply operating costs.

This article discusses some of the most common IT problems businesses face and how to counter them.

1.   Lack of Competent IT Support Staff

Lack of competent IT support staff is one of the most common IT-related problems for any business managing its in-house IT department. IT problems range from network and internet issues to cyberattacks, data access issues, server inaccessibility, data privacy, workstation problems, printer malfunction, and other issues that hamper routine business activities. Unskilled employees are often unable to fix the problem completely, and as these problems linger, it causes delays, impacts the overall productivity of a business, and may even increase maintenance costs at later stages.

While the problem may sound appalling, the solution is pretty simple – outsourcing the IT support function and managing IT services through a third-party IT support service provider. Companies that provide IT support to businesses have some of the most talented IT specialists. Your business gets services from experts in the field who are well-versed with the latest trends in technology, common IT problems, and ways to fix these issues. A competent and experienced managed IT services company can support and monitor network and web servers, web hosting, emails, data storage, network maintenance and troubleshooting, and much more.

IT support services companies work with various businesses and can provide useful suggestions to upgrade your IT infrastructure and use technology to your advantage. Moreover, businesses can successfully reduce maintenance and operating costs by outsourcing IT support to professional IT companies.

2.   Cybersecurity Issues

With more businesses transforming digitally, cybersecurity has become a major concern for organizations to secure their digital assets from internal and external threats. A poor cyber posture can seriously damage a business’s reputation and credibility among customers, stakeholders, and investors. By 2025, cybercrimes will cost businesses more than $10.5 billion annually. Moreover, 45% of businesses that faced cybersecurity threats had inadequate security protocols to mitigate these attacks. Even a single cybersecurity attack or data breach can cost nearly $108,000 to small businesses. These threats include social engineering, phishing attacks, denial of service attacks, malware, cloud vulnerabilities, blockchain attacks, ransomware, banking Trojans, and dozens more.

Businesses can counter cybersecurity threats by employing strict security protocols, implementing software and hardware firewalls, using data encryption techniques during transmission, and implementing data security best practices in workplaces. Businesses can also outsource data and network security to third-party security service providers. These cybersecurity specialists can identify weaknesses in IT infrastructure and enterprise applications and suggest ways to minimize vulnerabilities. They also monitor network activity to detect and mitigate any hacking attempts.

3.   Using Outdated Technology

Using outdated technology is another common problem most businesses face. It not only keeps your business out of the competition but also affects your business’s productivity and growth. Outdated technology is always more expensive to maintain and upgrade compared to implementing new technology. Instead of wasting valuable resources in maintaining outdated equipment, businesses should invest in the latest technology that can last a few years and improves business efficiency.

4.   Carelessness Towards Data Backups

Unprecedented database crashes, server downtimes, overloaded routers, and various technical or non-technical issues often cause a sudden loss of data. Negligence in creating and maintaining data backups is a major IT problem that results in irreparable damage, causing thousands of dollars in loss to businesses. Small and medium businesses are at a higher risk of losing data, yet they usually don’t have a data backup and recovery strategy in place.

Every business, regardless of size, should create a comprehensive plan that includes a regular data backup procedure and recovery plans in case of an unforeseen event. However, the best solution to data backup and recovery issues is to use managed document management systems in a cloud-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) environment. These ready-to-use subscription-based applications maintain data backups on multiple remote servers. In case of a data breach or server failure, businesses can recover the latest version of data from remote clouds within a short time without disrupting their services.

5.   Lack of Disaster Recovery Plans

A disaster recovery plan mainly focuses on restoring IT services in case of contingencies. A lack of a disaster recovery plan can put your business in hot waters. Your business activities suffer in the event of a natural disaster, network failure, database crash, or web application downtime, which may result in losing customers, disruption in services, and a significant loss in sales.

A disaster recovery plan is specifically designed to keep the business operational under unsolicited situations and restore business services in the minimum possible time. Businesses must create a comprehensive disaster recovery policy and educate their employees on how to respond to contingencies and incidents to restore business functions without much delay.  

Final Thoughts

Knowing about some of the most prevalent IT and technology-related challenges can assist businesses in devising counter-strategies to tackle IT problems and prepare for contingencies. Businesses increasingly depend on outsourced or managed IT services to alleviate IT problems and save significant amounts of money that would otherwise be spent on deployment, maintenance, and upgrades. We believe that the list above will help you determine common IT issues and how to address them without impacting business operations.