How many times do you happen to receive an email or notification that a new product release or update is available? And how many times have you wondered, is further updating really so necessary? Or, to take a more practical example, let’s think about our smartphones. With shorter and shorter time intervals, notifications arrive indicating the availability of a new version of the operating system. A common thought is that carrying out system updates is a waste of time, with doubts about the actual performance improvement. This can be adapted to our businesses. When it comes to information systems and software components of a company, the reasoning becomes a little more complex and the consequences of a failure to update are more risky. However, they are also vital to your growth. 

 

 

If you choose to undertake and manage your IT systems yourself, you could be heading for trouble. Any small business has to deal with their finances smartly; however, outsourcing to a company who can assist, will take the worry away from you. With managed it services for small business, you can be sure that your business’ information and applications are in safe hands. If you choose to do things yourself, you leave yourself wide open to fraud and cyber attacks as well as updating your systems without knowing all the implications. What are the main risks associated with using outdated software technology components?

 

• Risk of vulnerability: With each update, the software provider solves code errors, bugs or system flaws of the previous version that could be exploited by cyber criminals to compromise or steal data or even deny the use of applications. By updating, the possibility of suffering a cyber attack is drastically reduced.
• Non-compliance risk: This is closely linked to the previous risk because a vulnerable software component puts the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data at risk, putting the client company in a condition of “non-compliance” with respect to the provisions of the law. Today, more than ever, data protection matters.
• Incompatibility risk: When replacing hardware components, all software components must be updated consistently. For example, you can’t work on a PC with an operating system that is no longer supported by the database version of the company software as there will be incompatibility between the two systems.

 

These risks translate into costs because in the best case the customer will have to request the restoration of corrupted or lost data, while if problems arise related to the failure of application functions necessary for the proper performance of daily work activities, more serious repercussions are encountered. This is why it’s important to have a professional team caring for your technology. It relinquishes all major responsibility from you, as well as any rookie errors that could cost big bucks. Managed IT services can give you peace of mind as well as 24 hour protection and a ROI.

Guaranteeing up-to-date software solutions means guaranteeing reliability, continuity and security to customers, as well as fundamental elements for meeting new market needs.