Whenever we speak with customers about upgrading their technology or implementing new software the conversation ultimately turns to the cost of the solution. This leads to the logical question in response; What is outdated technology costing the business on a day to day basis? What are the implications of having outdated technology?
Customer Perception Counts
Customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated when it comes to technology. More and more people have become comfortable shopping for goods and services online and they are expecting the same kind of response from your business as they are getting from the online companies they are dealing with. In fact, according to Microsoft;
- Nearly 25% of consumers think a small business is not professional and lacks credibility when they see it uses a free, cloud-based email service.
- Nearly 60% of consumers think a SMB is outdated if a company is still using a 5 year-old desktop computer.
- 61% of consumers think a company is outdated if they are using an operating system that is more than 4 years old.
- More than 80% of customers will leave a business’ website and abandon an online purchase
if the site is outdated. - 57% of consumers agree that small businesses that use modern technology are more competitive in
the marketplace.
Employee Perception Hurts Moral
In recent studies over one third of employees felt that their company’s technology was outdated leading employees to lose productivity and cost their company time and money. In addition to the productivity loses, many employees are forced to implement “shadow IT systems” to get around the old technology they are fighting on a day to day basis.
Surveyed employees say that automating repetitive tasks (20%), having access to more mobile computing devices (12%) and having cloud based/work anywhere systems would dramatically improve their productivity (20%).
Crashes and Downtime and Increased Maintenance Costs The Business
Regardless of whether we are speaking of hardware or software, downtime is a fact of life. Using outdated hardware and/or software dramatically increases the amount of downtime that a business experiences. Studies show that a 4 year old desktop computer experiences 21 hours of downtime per year!.
Software and hardware that have reached their “End of Life” become security risks as manufacturers and software makers no longer provide security patches and updates leading to potential viruses and incompatibility with other software and hardware.
When examining your current technology situation ask yourself;
- If this piece of hardware/software failed how would it impact the business?
- Does the business have any equipment or software that is coming to its End of Life?
- What equipment/software is impacting the businesses daily productivity?
Remember, the cost of outdated equipment is hidden in the day to day activities of the business.
If you would like to speak about how your company can best review your current technology situation or discuss your technology concerns. Contact us using the form below or call or email. We’d love to hear from you.
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