As we progress through 2022, the demand for enterprise technologies is only increasing. Be it new businesses jumping online for the first time and needing appropriate hosting to exist clients needing more to run their operations, more and more SMEs need to upscale.
This isn’t a bad thing, as it means more business to go around, and it means the market value increases overall. Online is the future, and almost every business knows that now.
For this reason, it is pivotal that your SME stays ahead of the curve, no matter how big it is. Having plans to expand your operation and be in a position to always offer more to your customers is the key to SME growth.
In today’s article, we’ll cover vital aspects that every SME should have by now or should consider getting by the end of 2022.
Storage Solutions For The Future
Storage is essential in every operation. Without enough storage to go around, you won’t be able to offer your clients a whole host of services – assuming you are in the hosting world. Even if you’re not directly offering hosting services, having great storage solutions for your operation will improve your capacity to offer whatever services you offer.
A lack of storage space can lead to disorganized files and documents and data loss, often resulting in slower machines.
EqualLogic offers a fantastic range of hard disk drives for a range of enterprise-ready applications. They offer both SAS and SATA compatibility, meaning they can be installed seamlessly regardless of your connection setup. They also offer mixed-use and write-intensive drives to enable you to tailor your hard drive to your operation needs.
With up to 8TB of storage on one drive, they can offer your operation a much-needed boost in storage space that you could be lacking. Certain models can offer up to 12Gbps and 15000 RPM, depending on your need. Ideal for upgrading a storage array or starting one!
In addition, if you need an emphasis on speed more than the quantity of storage offered, solid-state drives are also offered by EqualLogic. These are perfect for installing and operating systems with the goal of speeding workstations up.
Now is the time if you haven’t upgraded your storage solutions in a while.
Efficient In-House Communications
Every SME needs an effective way to communicate between departments. Whether employee-to-employee communications or project bulletin boards, having one place to control everything keeps things simple and streamlined.
Nobody wants to sift through dozens of emails every day.
This is the exact problem that applications such as Slack, ClickUp, and Monday.com try to fix. They offer the functionality to organise internal communications and communications on joint projects.
Be it direct messages to a group channel to upload documents and tagging co-workers; these applications have it all.
Cloud & Offline Backups
Everyone knows the importance of backing up work, but most opt for cloud storage solutions for backing up their projects. This can work great in most cases, but having only one online backup option is spreading your eggs between two baskets on the same table. If the table’s leg goes, so do all the eggs.
While you are unlikely to lose your data in one swoop like this, it has been known to happen. For most SMEs, backing up all your work onto an external hard drive disk once a month (or once every two weeks) wouldn’t be that hard.
Keeping this disk disconnected from your network or offline can protect it from potential attackers and things like power surges or solar flares.
Keeping an online and offline backup of vital information is a must.
Power Distribution Units (PDUs)
As your SME expands in size, you’ll find that your different servers and workstations will require more power (naturally), but this power can often be distributed cyclically. The worst-case scenario is that some of your hardware doesn’t get the power it needs to realize its full potential.
That’s where the power distribution unit (PDU) comes in. It does what it says on the tin and provides the functionality to distribute power to the systems that need it most.
These units are a great way to future-proof your operation!
In Summary
The online services sector is expanding at an impressive rate as more of the world gets online. This is great for everyone, as a bigger pie means more slices!
That being said, it will also attract more competitors, and it is crucial to stay ahead of the competition in your niche. Investing in special SME hardware is but one way to keep the edge you have!
