The Five Most Common IT Issues for UK Businesses – And How to Avoid Them With Professional IT Support

Jera shares the five most prevalent IT issues and how to ensure your business IT infrastructure is resilient, protected and fit for purpose.

Every business knows that a sudden outage or system failure can be catastrophic – with IT downtime costing British companies an average of £3.6 million per year in lost revenues, emergency assistance and the costs of repairing or replacing devices or connections that have failed without warning.

If your core IT assets cease functioning, you may be unable to accept orders, communicate with customers, access your databases or verify whether the problem is related to a cybersecurity issue or data breach, with serious ramifications.

Jera, a full-service provider of Edinburgh IT support, cybersecurity services and cloud business solutions shares the five most prevalent IT issues and explains how to pre-empt these problems and ensure your business IT infrastructure is resilient, protected and fit for purpose.

1. Malicious Attacks and Viruses

Cybersecurity is a key issue. There are so many scams, viruses and new attack strategies continually developing that it can be challenging for businesses to recognise security risks before they have taken hold.

While cybersecurity threats can take several forms, some of the most common include:

• Spyware – these viruses bypass antivirus software as attachments to emails or seemingly innocent website links. The software collects data from the user's device, from customer card details to commercial banking logins.
• Viruses – other viruses can cause a device or an entire network to crash without any opportunity to restore functionality or recover all the data that has been deleted or corrupted.
• Exploitation of poor password protection – employees who do not update their passwords or use the same password for every login may find themselves the target of fraud or phishing scams, where a hacker can easily access every confidential system by replicating the same password credentials.

The optimal way to avoid these issues is to work with an IT support provider with expertise in the latest cybersecurity threats. Relatively straightforward services such as monitoring network speeds and bandwidth can identify viruses swiftly, eliminating them from your business software and devices before they can cause damage.

Along with regular security patches, which shore up any gaps in your defences in response to new cybersecurity risks, routine updates to enhance your virus protection can safeguard your business from threats.

2. Irrecoverable Data Losses

Data losses are serious, particularly where the data concerned relates to customers or sensitive business information. In some scenarios, the reason for the data loss may be something as simple as an outdated device crashing, an unanticipated loss of internet connection, or a technical glitch – but it could also be the outcome of an undetected cybersecurity hack.

Businesses that suffer from data breaches may need to notify the Information Commissioner's Office and inform any affected customers while providing evidence of the measures they have taken to protect confidential customer data.

In the worst-case scenario, data losses can be impossible to repair, meaning a company might have lost years of records, employee information, customer files and inventory – without any way to restore the data.

The best way to prevent any data breach or loss, for any reason, is to focus on effective disaster prevention and recovery. Performing regular backups, transitioning software systems to the cloud, and implementing rigorous security checks and system scans will identify as soon as there is a warning sign that an outage could be imminent – with recent backups on hand as and when needed.

3. System or Equipment Failure

Another typical issue is that software, a device or piece of desktop equipment reaches the end of its useful life. This can present a significant challenge for companies that rely on their equipment to perform everyday trading functions.

These issues often materialise when new software or updates are installed – which end up being incompatible with legacy hardware. Investing in new hardware, or multiple devices, can be a heavy cost burden, where devices or systems that fail due to their age might include:

• Printers, photocopiers and document scanners.
• E-commerce systems and sales functions.
• Label printers, barcode scanners and handheld devices.
• Laptops, desktop PCs and tablets.

Older devices sometimes fail without warning; a business might find that hardware no longer reboots after an update or crash and cannot be restarted.

An IT infrastructure audit is a great way to prevent any device, system or software from becoming redundant before it fails. Replacing equipment gradually and in order of priority ensures a business runs smoothly without being left in a position where multiple devices require replacement simultaneously, as a matter of urgency.

4. Loss of Internet Connectivity

In modern-day business, we rely on internet connections as much as we do electricity; disrupted or sluggish Wi-Fi, broadband that repeatedly cuts out, or unreliable connections that fail during the middle of an important workflow cause delays, stalls in productivity and lost data.

There are multiple possible reasons you might find your internet unstable, which could be down to:

• Problems with your router
• Limitations on hardware capacity
• Overloaded networks
• Weak connectivity and cabling

An experienced IT consultant can evaluate the efficacy of your current internet connection, recommend solutions, fixes and providers, and offer ongoing testing to ensure you can operate at full capacity – without bottlenecks that mean your data upload or download speeds repeatedly slow to a crawl.

5. Inadequate System Monitoring

Our fifth and final frequent business IT problem occurs when connections, networks and systems are not subject to ongoing monitoring or reporting – which means an issue only comes to the fore when it causes a crisis.

If you've ever started work in the morning only to find a huge backlog of unsent emails, incomplete updates or software that hasn't finished backing up from the previous day, you might be exposed to hardware failures, a spyware attack, malicious hacking attempts or breaks in your connections.

Reactive IT strategies often mean that the time and cost of responding to these challenges are more costly than necessary – firefighting every time an issue occurs and trying to find the fastest possible fix there and then.

Instead, we recommend proactive IT support, where technicians and engineers look for ongoing opportunities to eliminate risks, reinforce system stability and make suggestions when they see ways to improve your IT or prevent an issue from developing.

In all of the five common IT headaches we have explored today, a professional and qualified team of IT support professionals can provide advisory, consultative and practical solutions, stopping tech problems from impacting your revenues while being on hand to deal with any emergency that crops up.

Please contact Jera at your convenience to learn more about our IT support services or review our service packages online for additional information.

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About Jera

Jera provides fully managed IT support, cybersecurity services, telecoms systems, and IT strategy consultancy to businesses based in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and the surrounding areas.

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Source Company: https://jerait.co.uk