{"id":1078,"date":"2019-05-16T01:06:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T01:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotlineit.com\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2019-05-16T11:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T11:57:38","slug":"the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"The top five IT considerations for small business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Launching and running a business is challenging. While many small-business owners work hard to plan and operate their sales, marketing, and staffing operations, essential IT requirements are often neglected, putting businesses at risk of snowballing technical issues. Here are five tips the experts agree are essential to keeping your business backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Have a solid, secure online presence<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

There are some crucial features that are key for any small to medium-sized operation. You\u2019ll need a domain name, which accurately reflects your business name or product, and a reliable internet connection and hosting company. Invest in a layered digital security platform, which ought to protect all of your connected devices which store company information. It\u2019s also fundamental to your business\u2019 security that you regularly back up your data in an offsite location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Make sure your IT applications are reliable<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With so many plugins and workflow\/systems on the market, how do small businesses work out what\u2019s essential, while keeping on top of their systems and not wasting time managing their IT? Converting prospects into sales is only half the battle. How you manage the customer experience and processes internally is an ongoing challenge, and even on a good day, things don\u2019t always go to plan. The advice is not be overly reliant on subscription-based applications; if the provider goes out of business, or there\u2019s an issue with your payments, you run the risk of losing data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Let the pros handle the \u201cheavy lifting\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

IT is a specialised profession. Just because professional service providers make it look easy, managing the multiple demands on SMEs is a skill, and requires a high level of commitment. While it\u2019s certainly possible for an SME to operate its own systems\/applications in-house, it may result in sub-standard systems or processes being installed or introduced, so may not be productive in the long run. Any business that relies on their technology and systems to operate, should have them managed by a professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Choose wisely when it comes to your SaaS options<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Software as a Service, or SaaS, is an option many businesses explore so that their storage and business upkeep requirements are managed (hopefully) reliably, and affordably in the cloud. Making sure your data is backed up and safely stored is vital! Do your research, so that you can be safe in the knowledge that whichever security and archiving software packages you use are genuine and reputable, backed up with service guarantees and provided by experienced professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Get your support guaranteed in writing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Securing your own outsourced IT facilities, maintenance, and infrastructure also requires careful consideration, as well as benefits to SMEs who opt to \u201ckeep it local\u201d by engaging a local operator. In fact, simply by choosing a service provider who understands your business IT needs and is able to deliver a professional level of service, you\u2019ll ensure your IT is being managed and serviced. A \u201cbest practice\u201d approach is also to ensure you have a written contract with basic service level agreements. If everything is in writing, nothing can be left to chance or get lost in translation. If it\u2019s written down and agreed to in writing \u2013 chances are, it\u2019s going to get done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Joosse, CEO, Hotline IT<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’d like to work with an IT company that puts customer service at the forefront, contact us<\/strong><\/a> today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Launching and running a business is challenging. While many small-business owners work hard to plan and operate their sales, marketing, and staffing operations, essential IT requirements are often neglected, putting businesses at risk of snowballing technical issues. Here are five tips the experts agree are essential to keeping your business backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22,21],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hotline IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"880\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hotline IT Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hotline IT Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hotline IT Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60309ccdd137c6e95cb566c980a2d07c\"},\"headline\":\"The top five IT considerations for small business\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/\"},\"wordCount\":575,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png\",\"keywords\":[\"IT\",\"Small business\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business IT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\",\"name\":\"The Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png\",\"width\":880,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Five IT Considerations\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/\",\"name\":\"Hotline IT\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Hotline IT\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HotlineIT-logo-tagline.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HotlineIT-logo-tagline.svg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"Hotline IT\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60309ccdd137c6e95cb566c980a2d07c\",\"name\":\"Hotline IT Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99f0492d73d3f156919f589ae7ef3c9f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99f0492d73d3f156919f589ae7ef3c9f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hotline IT Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/author\/hotline-it-staff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT","description":"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT","og_description":"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.","og_url":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business","og_site_name":"Hotline IT","article_published_time":"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":880,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Hotline IT Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hotline IT Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/"},"author":{"name":"Hotline IT Staff","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60309ccdd137c6e95cb566c980a2d07c"},"headline":"The top five IT considerations for small business","datePublished":"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/"},"wordCount":575,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png","keywords":["IT","Small business"],"articleSection":["Business IT"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business\/","url":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business","name":"The Top Five IT Considerations For Small Business | Hotline IT","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png","datePublished":"2019-05-16T01:06:42+00:00","dateModified":"2019-05-16T11:57:38+00:00","description":"It is important to know the IT things to consider for your business to keep it backed up, optimised, secure \u2013 and afloat.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/insidesmallbusiness.com.au\/planning-management\/the-top-five-it-considerations-for-small-business#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Five-IT-considerations.png","width":880,"height":600,"caption":"Five IT Considerations"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/","name":"Hotline IT","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#organization","name":"Hotline IT","url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HotlineIT-logo-tagline.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/HotlineIT-logo-tagline.svg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"Hotline IT"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60309ccdd137c6e95cb566c980a2d07c","name":"Hotline IT Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99f0492d73d3f156919f589ae7ef3c9f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99f0492d73d3f156919f589ae7ef3c9f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hotline IT Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/author\/hotline-it-staff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.hotlineit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}