False Economy... and the death of a business.

IT Systems are a strange thing.  Failure to upgrade them regularly doesn't save you as much money you think.  In fact it won't be long until that wonderful business decision comes around to bite you on the rear.  As an IT consultant, I have lost count how many times I have been expected to keep aging OAP systems running at their best, when in truth, they are crawling on their knees.  The business owners fail to accept that their machines have come to the end of their lifetime and that they may have to part with some cash.  In fact, most business owners don't even have an IT budget!!  The only way they believe you is when...... the big crash happens!

So, how do these machines get so old and slow?

Simple.  PC's and Servers are like cars in some respect.  Imagine not adding oil and water whilst you continue to drive them hard?  The only real difference is that the demand on your vehicle to produce 60 mph never increases.  The vehicle only fails on wear and tear alone.

The IT equipment is different.  The older the PC gets, the higher the demand.  Viruses get more intelligent so your protection and firewall equipment MUST keep improving to defend your data.  Additionally, your PC's will continue to collect updates and services packs from Microsoft and other vendors.  These updates, and you should be doing them, increase the need for more memory on the machine.  The simple fact is that a business should be upgrading its machines every year or two, whether that be memory upgrades or machine replacements.

I have a client 'X' who has left their upgrading so long that their server can no longer be upgraded.  Even worse, the style of memory and hard drive are no longer available to purchase.  The server is running at full capacity and therefore causing little squeaks across the rest of the IT users in the building.  We are having to carry out unnecessary repairs to PC units along the way, which in turn costs us money too.  When, and it is not 'if', their server crashes, the result will be catastrophic.  The server will need replacing due to lack of parts availability and a costly data recovery exercise will be certainly be required.  The nasty shock of £3.5k and a weeks downtime will ensue.

Despite this, it is often forgotten that it is the IT systems that 'earns' the money to provide the nice House, New Car and Image that the business owner loves to have around him.  One huge system crash or data breach is big enough to destroy the business, stability of its employees and its reputation!  Customers never forget the lost of their data....

Why such a vicious blog? I see businesses fail regularly and if you are business owner, I'd just like you to take a breath and think seriously about your systems for a moment...... Believe me when I tell you they are more important than your Car, and even the building you run your business from.  If your IT systems, Server or Data backup is older that 4 years old, you are on a knife edge.

We will be running some seminars to assist small businesses overcome the fear of upgrading costs in the coming months.  Upgrading your PC's shouldn't be expensive if done regularly.  So we'll keep you posted with the seminar dates....