How To Make Technology Work For Your Startup

A startup owner has a lot to manage, and budgets are the top concern at all times. At this stage, you must aim to do more with less across the length and breadth of the business. Building a successful company from scratch requires a lot. An investment in a robust IT infrastructure is a must. After all, you cannot imagine running without technology in the modern landscape.

But as you set it up, you need to ensure that it works for your business and delivers the ROI you expect. Not to mention, it must fit well in your scanty budget. Fortunately, taking a few steps can help you on both fronts. Let us share a few ways to make technology work for your startup.

Aim for simplicity

When it comes to making anything work for a startup, simplicity is the magic word. It makes technology easy and fits it into your wallet, and both are essential at the startup stage. Take a minimum viable approach to infrastructure and invest in only the basics when you start. Economize everywhere, with hardware, software, networking, and communications.

Avoid custom products and solutions, rather stick with standardized ones. They reduce the need for expensive training programs and curb the costs of onboarding and troubleshooting. You end up with an infrastructure good enough to get your startup going but without pinching the budgets.

Cover remote operations

As the world struggles with the pandemic, remote work becomes the new normal for businesses. You have to gear up even at the early stage, and it is possible only if your technology covers remote operation. It isn’t as daunting as you may think because remote tech becomes simple for smaller teams. You can start with providing company devices to the employees.

Give access to business data and applications on the cloud to enable them to access from anywhere. Also, provide the right tools for remote communication and collaboration tools to keep the team connected and facilitate seamless operations.

When you invest in remote infrastructure, go the extra mile to ensure tight security and dependable support. Both are vital to keeping the systems up and running, so you cannot miss out on either.

Keep processes intuitive

Apart from taking a minimalistic approach to IT infrastructure, you must have processes in place from the outset. It is vital to ensure that the entire system runs seamlessly. You can make it possible by having permanent and traceable fixes for every problem.

Ensuring that people know what they have to do can make all the difference. For example, if employees use Mac devices, provide a duplicate file finder for Mac to help them keep their devices clean and organized at all times.

Also, have a well-defined troubleshooting process so that people know how to handle issues and where to get help. It makes sense to have a managed IT-support partner to take care of issues, and they are cost-effective compared to an in-house support team.

Ensure scalability

Scalability should always be on top of your mind if you want technology to work for your business. Consider the potential future growth when you develop your IT infrastructure. For example, you may start with a basic file sharing service that suffices a team of a dozen employees. But you will struggle with it once the team size grows to hundreds over the years.

Investing in scalable solutions and technologies keeps your startup on the right track and ensures future readiness. It also prevents expenses and disruptions that may come when you move to another solution down the line. You only have to upgrade to get the system ready for the new requirements.

Prioritize security

When you have a business IT in place, security should be a top concern. The risk of data breaches and cybercrimes is on the rise, and it is the last thing you will want to deal with at the startup stage. Losing your confidential data is a killer, and it gets even riskier when you are new in the business domain. It risks your reputation and credibility, which are crucial at this stage.

Moreover, breaches are expensive to handle, which means they will press your startup budget. Having a cyber risk management plan right from the start keeps your business in a good place. Train your employees to ensure that they are aware of the threats and can avoid them too.

Enforce best practices such as the use of strong passwords, access restrictions, and virus safety for all corporate devices.

Making technology work for your new business isn’t as challenging as it sounds. Everything boils down to making the right choices that fit into your startup budget. Also, make sure that it is easy to embrace and fulfills your requirements today. At the same time, it should be capable of growing along with your business. 

This is a Contributor Post. Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Contributor. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Contributor to disclose. Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.