Avoid Downtime- Update Your Software!
Upgrading your company’s computer infrastructure is a smart move, although it doesn’t come cheap. You need to make sure you’re getting the most of your investment in your new technology. One of the advantages of upgrading your IT systems is that you’ll enjoy better protection against the many cyberthreats out there. But this will only happen if you regularly update your software. Malware and hackers’ schemes are constantly evolving. Updates are vital for your system to have ongoing protection, so you can keep your competitive edge.
The bigger your IT infrastructure, the more complicated updating processes can be. If you have multiple workstations then you need to keep on top of which ones have received updates and which need attending to. If your staff use mobile devices for work then it can be even more complicated to keep on top of everything. The good news is that it is manageable with good planning.
One strategy is to use your company’s servers to host all critical applications. Updates can be carried out on the server, with instant global applicability over all devices. This goes some way to staying up-to-date, but not all software can be loaded directly onto the server and must be tracked in other ways. This is not something you can afford to neglect. Consider the risks that running outdated software presents and the headaches and downtime that can result if things go wrong.
Updates are Essential for Security
Think of outdated software as a ticking bomb. Software updates provide crucial security patches. Hackers and cybercriminals study new security patches when they come out because then they are alerted to the vulnerabilities that the patches are designed to cover. They can then create code to exploit those vulnerabilities and target computers that haven’t been updated. Most viruses are designed to attack servers using outdated operating systems (such as Windows XP, which expired in 2014, or Windows 7, which became unsupported in January 2020) or apps for mobile devices.
If your systems become infected, it can be expensive to clean it up, as well as potentially creating a lot of downtime. You might also have to explain to your clientele that their sensitive data, from contact information to financial details, has been stolen. This may be something of a worst-case scenario, but you should plan for the worst, because the consequences can be so serious. Proactively monitoring your devices and upgrading software as soon as updates are released goes a long way to keeping your IT infrastructure secure.
Workflow Disruptions
As well as security problems, outdated software creates other problems, including work slowdowns. If you don’t update your software regularly you may run into software incompatibility problems. This occurs if you are using applications to create documents and files that aren’t backwards-compatible – so files don’t comply with previous software versions. This can be cause delays and glitches, especially if people working on the same project are using different software versions. To keep your workflow running smoothly, updates for everything on your network, including mobile devices, must be attended to as soon as they come out.
Schedule Time for Upgrades
The most efficient way to keep on top of software updates is to implement it on a systems-wide basis. Set some time aside to check the status of your software and upgrade everything. We realize that this can be a hassle, and a disruption in its own right, but it’s the way to go. Doing it in bits and pieces means you’re more likely to overlook and forget something. It’s a risk that isn’t worth taking. Schedule a time and do it thoroughly.
Network maintenance and updating can be daunting, and taking time out to update and maintain everything isn’t something anyone looks forward to. Quikteks is here to help. Outsource your IT needs to us and you can be confident that your systems will continue to run optimally, with minimal downtime. We will take care of obtaining all the crucial updates that your server requires. We use remote maintenance and monitoring (RMM) tools to locate outdated software, identify security vulnerabilities and eliminate them. With our RMM tools we can then upgrade your software remotely, so you can speedily resume your business operations. For more information on managed IT services from Quikteks, call us at (973) 882-4644.