As we have noted in the past, the best technology care is proactive. It’s about managing conditions so that hardware lasts longer, software runs flawlessly, and everyone on your team can go about their work without dealing with crashes, error messages, or unexpected failures.
One aspect of good proactive technology care, however, also tends to be something that business owners and executives overlook completely. This “mystery area” of IT is deceptively simple, but can have huge effects on your budget, performance, and productivity.
We are talking, of course, about the environment you use your technology within. Believe it or not, the actual physical space you use to keep things like computers, networking equipment, and even mobile devices can make a big difference on what you actually get from them.
Let’s look at just some of the considerations you might be ignoring when it comes to physical space in your tech setup…
Sufficient Spacing – Some pieces of tech, like servers and workstations, need a little bit of room to breathe. That’s particularly important if you are putting them next to one another. You should have space to fit your tech comfortably, and to allow for regular maintenance and cleaning.
Ventilation – One of the reasons it’s so important to have sufficient space is to allow for ventilation. That means making sure your hardware doesn’t overheat, and also that dust isn’t accumulating on sensitive drives or microchips. Without enough clean open air, your tech won’t last as long as it should. And, it might fail you in a critical moment.
Climate Control – We have already mentioned the need to dissipate heat, but humidity can be a challenge, as well. Ideally, you would have a dedicated space for hardware that can be carefully managed for temperature and other factors. At the very least, you should be aware of any issues that might affect hardware lifespan or reliability.
Power Supply – Having enough power to run all of your tech can be a huge challenge, particularly if you have a smaller space in an older building. Aside from the obvious outages, insufficient power can lead to hardware failures, data loss, and inconsistent network performance.
Controlled Access – You don’t want to have key pieces of technology in a place where just anyone can have access to them. For one thing, some pieces of tech are incredibly expensive. And for another, they may contain sensitive information. Believe it or not, things like hard drives and servers are sometimes stolen in person when they aren’t protected.
Interference – Not only will some pieces of tech conflict with one another, but things like copper, piping, electrical equipment, and even concrete walls can all get in the way of your tech working properly (both literally and figuratively. A good IT vendor will identify these problems before they affect your company.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of risks and considerations, of course, but should be enough to get you thinking about the way you store the most important pieces of your technology.
Need Help Building a Smarter IT Strategy?
You can sometimes get away with treating IT as an afterthought and creating a technology strategy as you go when a business is brand-new and everything is being run by a few people. But, if you want to keep growing – and to thrive – it pays to have a team of experts looking out for your budget, performance, and data security strategy.
If you’re ready to take the next step, or just want to get smart about the way your business invests in technology, contact the trusted technicians at Fantastic IT today. We’ll show you why so many Southern California business owners and executives refuse to work with anyone else!