The Cost of Outdated Hardware

By: Stephen McCandless Operations Manager, SimplePowerIT

Is older hardware costing your company money and productivity and making your business vulnerable?

Computers play a significant role in most business organizations. Larger businesses refresh their technology about every 3-5 years while smaller businesses refresh every 5-7 years, and sometimes even longer. With the increase in mobility of today’s employees, technology must be more dynamic and responsive to meet current business needs. Using older hardware can cost more in support, take longer to perform tasks, and cause security issues. That is why it is important to keep your software and machines up-to-date and running smoothly. Listed below are three of the major things to consider when evaluating whether your business technology is costing you money, performance, or productivity.

Slow Performance

Slow performing machines may cost you time as employees wait for the machine to start, for the applications to load, or for system lock ups to resolve. Do your machines have the following issues?

• Applications take longer to load
• Heat buildup causes slow processor performance which causes the keyboard and mouse to respond slower
• Newer software and printers are sometimes incompatible with older computers and can undermine productivity and frustrate users

Maintenance and Data Loss

Have you had PC’s or laptops lock up or load just a black screen? Time to call tech support? Your employee is waiting for the tech to remote in and fix the PC and you are losing valuable uptime while the machine is being fixed. How many times has this happened to your business? Did you lose the bid when the hardware failed, and all the data was lost?

• Many productive work hours are lost each year while older machines are being repaired
• Repairs are costlier on older computers compared to new machines
• Systems are more likely to crash on an older machine and there is potential for unrecoverable data loss
• Outdated software can also leave you susceptible to hardware failure

Security Vulnerabilities

Malware, ransomware, and virus attacks are growing nationwide. Cybercriminals have shifted toward attacking key entry points on networks or seek unpatched or software vulnerabilities to launch attacks.

• Older machines are unable to install the latest security updates causing security holes and vulnerabilities putting your business and customer data at risk
• Today’s malware and ransomware look for security vulnerability and will exploit any holes they can find

The reasons listed above are why it is so important to upgrade your hardware and stay away from outdated software. Keeping your technology modern, healthy and your software current will keep your data safe, raise productivity, and prevent avoidable security vulnerabilities. If you are ready to have a comprehensive review of your business and see what upgraded technology can do for you contact our team at SimplePowerIT today at (509) 433-7606 for a free initial consultation. www.simplepowerit.com