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The state of your server room: Why does it matter?
Your critical servers and networking equipment – do you know what room they are in? When was the last time anyone went in there? Is it organized, clean? Do you know where the cables go?
Your server room is the technological lifeblood of your business. Yet, each day, your primary concern is running your business. And you rely on that technology to assist you in running your business. But days, weeks, months, or even years go by and, unless someone has been in there keeping it clean and making improvements to maintain or increase its efficiency, you could one day walk into your business and find a server is down or a switch is no longer working. Upon further inspection, it turns out the power supply has died from dust and dirt, things easily preventable with care. You made a significant investment in this equipment to assist in your business, wouldn’t you also be interested in maintaining that investment like you would maintain your BMW or even your own home?
It is easy for many business owners to overlook their technology investments.
Often subordinates, a CFO, or someone unfamiliar with your business practices makes the decisions that go into technology investments.
On the bright side, your technology investment is working so well that you might not even realize it is there, collecting dust in the supply closet. But, technology is often not something you can just buy and forget about; it has to be cared for almost like it is another employee in your business. There will come a day when you need to make upgrades. Or perhaps you purchased a new building and need to move.
You might’ve hired a new IT team and they’re discovering years of poorly-kept and poorly-managed systems, or a tangled mess of cables that go nowhere. Efficiency is a process but a process often achieved when all the right pieces are in place.
So you stopped reading this, and looked inside your server room.
Take a deep breath. Exhale.
Don’t close the door again and forget about it. All is not lost.
As long as everything still works, plenty of things can be done to improve your technology setup so that moving forward, you can quickly and easily glance at a professionally-tailored diagram to know what goes where and know who to contact when something needs to be looked at. An experienced IT team can assist evaluating and implanting solutions such as:
- Current and projected server utilization
- Ensuring equipment is housed in proper enclosures with adequate ventilation, filtration and cooling
- Network cables are neatly bundled, labeled and color-coded so electricians, painters or other vendors don’t accidentally take down your network
- Software is up to date and compliant
- Creation and updating of systems and network diagrams you and your staff can reference easily when working with vendors
- …and much more!
All of these things may not seem very important in the grand scheme, but having a well-maintained and professional-looking server room in any business environment not only gives you and your employees a piece of mind knowing everything will work and continue to work for years to come, but also looks professional to prospective customers, vendors or creditors. Technology drives the future and, with a little help, you will be comfortably driving that technology well into the future.
written by:
Brendan Kelly
Brendan Kelly is a Business Alliance Manager focused on building partnerships with technology companies that can help The Walker Group’s clients increase efficiencies, reduce operating expenses and mitigate IT security risks. Prior to assuming the Business Alliance Manager role at Walker, Brendan spent 10+ years in new business sales and account management roles while working for both software and service providers.
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