MainStream Technologies, Inc, established in 2006 is a
Managed Service Provider
specializing in support for
Professional Businesses and Medical Practices.

GET AWAY FROM THE “BREAK-FIX” MENTALITY - WE THINK PROACTIVE AND PREVENTIVE!

Here is some free guidance from our staff on a “technology refresh”

Every business wants to achieve their goals and be successful. However, if you approach your technology infrastructure as an afterthought, you could be seriously restricting your organization's potential…. or even worse - writing its complete demise!

Continuing to use outdated systems In today’s fast-paced
digital age could quickly become a liability.

And don’t just be thinking HARDWARE… your systems include your application platforms, network infrastructure, layers of managed cyber security, monitoring, managed patching, and much more.

A lack of updating - and keeping systems up to date - can harm your team's productivity and interrupt their workflow

Technology that doesn’t integrate, hinders overall business productivity and success

It can create vulnerabilities and lead to severe cyber attacks

A “technology refresh” allows us to assess your company’s IT infrastructure in its present condition and evaluate the benefits of implementing something more effective. For a company's long-term success, it's ideal to examine its current IT infrastructure — hardware, software and other technology solutions — and allow us to formulate what other options are available that would better suit its needs.

Remember that your IT infrastructure is a critical component of your business. An up-to-date and high-quality IT infrastructure is a significant asset that allows you to do business and achieve your goals successfully.

Mainstream Technologies is equipped and staffed to continually fine-tune and enhance your IT infrastructure to keep up with changing consumer demands, fluctuating data volumes, increased network traffic, compliance requirements and  other evolving facets of your organization. However, we see that there are some barriers preventing many organizations from investing in their technology infrastructure, such as time, a lack of expertise, apprehension about change and financial constraints.

When you work with us as your qualified Managed Services Provider (MSP), we will assist you in planning and implementing a technology refresh that suits your business.

Before you refresh your technology infrastructure, there are six factors you need to consider that are presented below.

Your IT infrastructure refresh strategy should be based on your long-term vision. If you try to rip up and replace platforms every year without a plan, it can eat up your time, drain your wallet and cause employee dissatisfaction.

You must allow us to give you a clear understanding of where your company is now and where you want it to go in the future, and if any technology component is preventing you from growing. When it’s time to replace or update it, we will ensure that your key stakeholders are well-informed about the change or changes needed ahead of time in order to avoid friction later on.

Our strategy with your organization take a few key indicators into consideration that show you whether your technology infrastructure is assisting you in realizing your vision. These indicators are:

Setting goals requires you to make challenging decisions and confront the reality of your business and technology. Once you have a good idea of how you want your business to look in the future, you can create a roadmap and lay down weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly goals. These goals serve as guideposts for you and your employees as you build your company.

Ask yourself the following questions before setting goals:

• What are you hoping to accomplish?

• Is your technology helping or hurting your goals?

• If your current technology is hindering your progress, what technologies can assist you in achieving your goals?

Goals are important because they translate your vision into measurable targets. It also helps employees understand exactly what they are expected to do and when they are expected to do it.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOALS

Establish a direction
Goals point the entire workforce and processes
in the direction of the company’s vision.

Motivate employees
When employees know what is expected of them, they
become more passionate and engaged in their work.

Before you begin a technology refresh, you must first establish a budget. Asking the questions below is a good place to start:

• How much can you afford to spend on a technology refresh?

• Are you willing to go beyond your budget if necessary?

• If so, How much can you go over budget?

Budgets are one of the many tools used by businesses to achieve their goals. Consider your technology refresh budgets as a way to align your IT infrastructure with your vision, rather than as a burden or unnecessary spending.

To create an optimal technology refresh budget for
your company, we will follow these steps:

Evaluate the previous year’s refresh budget
Review your technology refresh budget from last year (if you have one) to see where you want to make changes. You probably don’t need to invest in certain technology components again if you spent money on them last year.

Understand your recurring expenses
Certain costs, such as cloud storage space and domain name renewal, will remain relatively constant from year to year. Examine if any recurring expenses haven’t been factored into previous budgeting decisions.

If you want to stay within your budget when planning a technology refresh, we must prioritize which technologies need updating.

First, we will determine which technologies are essential and which are optional. Technology refreshes/upgrades that your company can’t unleash its true potential without should be considered essential. Optional refreshes are “nice to have,” but they won’t make or break your ability to meet your goals.

Answering the following questions will help you identify essential technology:

• Does the technology help you achieve your business goals and ultimately, your vision? ? How frequently do you use this technology?

• Is this technology critical to any core departments/business units?

• Is this technology reliant on any other technologies?

• Are there any other technologies that rely on this technology?

• What would the revenue loss be if this technology became obsolete?

• Will this technology’s disruption (downtime) result in any compliance violations?

• Will there be fines, lawsuits or other penalties imposed if this technology is not operational

• Is this technology critical to your market share or reputation?

Technology refreshes are required for a company to progress and stay in business for a long time. Because technology is constantly changing, you will find that your company is falling behind and unable to keep up if you continue to use outdated technology components.

When upgrading or refreshing your technology infrastructure, keep in mind - technologies that integrate well can help you achieve your goals more effectively. No one wants to invest in various technologies to discover that none of it works together. Integration is critical for today’s technology infrastructures because the current technology landscape is growing at an unprecedented rate and businesses may have to depend on multiple vendors for different solutions. Mainstream Technologies will put the pieces of this puzzle together for you.

Integration meets companies’ growing IT demands by making it easier to combine new solutions with the existing IT infrastructure. In fact, many manufacturers design their technology products with future integration in mind.

One of the primary reasons we recommend that businesses invest in integration is to optimize business processes. A centralized infrastructure improves the efficiency of information exchange and workflows, resulting in increased productivity. It also lowers operational costs, improves overall reaction time and ensures that information is readily available when required.

Eventually, it adds value for customers by improving the performance and quality of products and services. There are further benefits such as:

After we’ve considered the five factors listed above and created the ideal architecture for your refresh, we will assist in determining whether it will genuinely accomplish what you need it to.

We will Include the following steps as part of your review:

• Conduct a gap analysis - Examine how closely the outcomes adhere to the original goals. This gives you a good idea of where you should improve next time.

• Determine stakeholder satisfaction - Decide how to proceed if core individuals are dissatisfied with the change.

• Evaluate the schedule and budget - Will the refresh/upgrade be completed on time and under budget? If not, figure out what needs to be reformed.

• Determine possibilities for improvement - When you review with the mindset that nothing is perfect or complete, you will uncover areas that need improvement in the future.

• Document the lessons learned - You must document every detail of a refresh/upgrade so that it can be reused when needed. It can help in report generation as well.

Partner for Success

Technology refresh is essential to keep up with rapid technological advancements and to gain a significant advantage over competitors. Get started on your path to refresh/upgrade success with an experienced partner like us. Knowing that the process is in expert hands gives you peace of mind and time to concentrate on growing your company.

Contact us to learn more about how we can assist you in implementing the optimal technology refresh strategy for you to increase your chances of success in today’s highly competitive business environment.