IT disasters can halt productivity and affect the livelihood of any small business.  As an IT consultant you are responsible for helping your small business clients plan ahead so they can avoid devastating IT disasters.  

IT Disasters:  Three Tips for Prevention

The following three tips can help you protect yourself and your clients from falling into the trap of IT disasters.  While no one can completely prevent issues from cropping up when technology is involved, there are ways to prevent them from being earth-shattering for small businesses and for your own IT consulting firm.

IT Disasters:  Tip 1 – Be Careful With Hopeless Projects

If you know you are signing onto a project with a client that has been deemed “hopeless,” you need to carefully gauge the situation before you get into trouble.  Don’t settle for doing things cheaply and quickly.  Be prepared to sell clients hard on the importance of doing projects the right way and not just for the lowest price.  With a “whatever it takes” attitude, you can convince them that your careful solution is the only way to truly avoid IT disasters and explain to them why past solutions have not worked.

IT Disasters:  Tip 2 – Be Ready to Pay Attention to Disaster Planning

In small companies that have less than 50 computers – a majority of businesses in the U.S. – you will probably not find an in-house IT director.  Until a company decides to work regularly with a good consulting firm, their IT assets are susceptible to IT disasters.  Since non-technical small business owners don’t tend to pay attention to or create a budget for IT disaster planning until after a devastating issue has occurred, your responsibility is to watch out for their assets and be vigilant about creating a plan that works with their systems.  

IT Disasters:  Tip 3 – Test Data Restoration Practices Regularly

While many small businesses may run a daily tape backup of their servers, most don’t test the process of restoring the data.  Neglecting this important test can pave the way to IT disasters.  Make sure media gets switched off-site regularly as well.

The Bottom Line About IT Disasters

When technology is mixed with not necessarily technically-minded users, IT issues will inevitably happen.  Your job as an IT consultant is to work with small businesses to create a concrete plan that protects them from these issues turning into major IT disasters.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit