When starting a business, it’s important to plan ahead – and this means acknowledging that sometimes, issues occur and things go wrong. If you’re aware of potential problems, you can take steps to avoid or fix the issue.
Here are six of the most common business oversights, plus suggestions for how to remedy the situation.
Not having a disaster plan
When serious problems occur, not having a disaster plan ready to go can cause further setbacks. It’s a good idea to have a series of plans in place to cover various scenarios, such as fires, floods, natural disasters, break-ins and anything else that might keep you out of the office or make IT equipment difficult to access. Disaster recovery planning in case of failure of IT and voice services helps you to stay a step ahead when issues arise, as it means you’ll have a strategy in place for getting back on track.
Not backing up your data
It’s easy to forget to back up your data, but not doing so could lead to your business losing important information. Consequently, you could end up seriously behind schedule as you try to recover your data – or, in a worst-case scenario, you might have to re-collect that data and enter it into the IT system again.
Luckily, this situation can be easily avoided by using secure cloud storage to back everything up. If you’re about to launch a new business, make sure you have this storage in place from the start.
Saving work to a cloud also allows multiple people to work together on the same project, even if they’re not in the same room. This is useful for projects with tight timeframes – being able to access and add to something that someone else is currently working on increases productivity and gets the task done faster. It also provides people with a platform to share ideas and make suggestions.
Outages
IT outages can have a number of causes – heat waves, for example, led to a number of problems for computer systems last year. If you think there’s a chance the weather will cause problems, try to keep IT equipment in cooler parts of the office. This will help to prevent equipment from overheating during the summer.
Communications
Everyone in the office needs to be able to communicate quickly and effectively throughout the day. Otherwise, it’s easy for good ideas – and important announcements – to get lost. Installing a unified communications system goes a long way to solving this issue.
Staff training
Staff training is crucial when it comes to ensuring that each aspect of your business runs smoothly. For example, customer service: your employees need to know how to handle customer complaints, as well as the most effective ways to gather feedback from customers. They’ll also need training on the IT systems and anything else that your business uses on a daily basis.
Lack of financial planning
You need to be prepared for changes in the market and plan accordingly. Your budget should therefore account for a variety of circumstances, as this will help your business to stay afloat in difficult economic conditions.
