Tip of the Week: Follow These Steps Before You Upgrade

Why do manufacturers and developers constantly issue updates and upgrades to their software and hardware solutions? A business’s IT solutions might seem like something you want to set up and not think about ever again, but this is simply not how the cookie crumbles. This week’s tip is dedicated to why your organization needs to have a strategy in place to approach your upgrades.

Step 1: What Needs and Upgrade, and Why
The first step in the upgrade process is to determine what upgrades are necessary. Be sure to look at components on your business’s network infrastructure. Upgrades will generally be issued for any of the following reasons:

• You want your solutions to have an increased capacity or range.
• You want to improve the security of your business and its resources.
• You want to increase your business’s productivity through preventative maintenance.

If any of the parts of your infrastructure that you’re considering upgrading can achieve the above objectives, then you know it’s worth the investment.

Step 2: Plan and Prepare for Your Upgrade
Technology upgrades don’t happen whenever you want them to happen, especially in the business world. Instead, you need to plan them out in meticulous detail, as they will often need to be done outside of normal operational hours to avoid downtime and distractions. Beyond this, though, there is still much to consider.

Be sure to think about the negative effects that the upgrade could have on the user. If the upgrade will be a lengthy one, will those in need of the technology being upgraded have access to tools to do their job? Will the business be able to function while the upgrade is happening? All of these questions must be asked so that operations are impacted minimally during the process.

Step 3: Protecting Yourself
The upgrade might normally go smoothly without any real issues, but it’s still important to imagine a hypothetical situation where you’re caught off guard, and something doesn’t go as planned. This is why we recommend having a comprehensive data backup solution. If you run into any issues during the upgrade, you can simply revert back to before the upgrade was attempted--assuming that the upgrade was on the software end rather than the hardware end.

Horne & Benik can help your business upgrade its technology in an easy and efficient way. To learn more, reach out to us at (603) 499-4400.