22 Dec Preparing for New Year’s IT and SMB Goals

Achieving your ambitions for the New Year

The new year is almost upon us after finishing off a long stretch of holidays. It’s a time of celebration and reflection, where many seek a fresh outlook for themselves. In the case of SMBs, it’s a period to think about resolutions and goals for the business. Every organization is unique and has different needs, so not all enterprise models go about it in the same way.

However, establishing reasonable and attainable goals for your IT and business infrastructure is important. How do you know the right path to take? What trends could potentially impact your company model? Considering economic impacts like inflation, management and owners must remain especially wary. While Bytagig can’t predict the future (yet) and we won’t assume the inner workings of your enterprise, we can offer a range of potential resolutions to be mindful of for the 2023 year.

Ambition isn’t the key

The philosophy of “big risks, big gains” doesn’t hold as true in today’s modern environment. With unpredictable cybersecurity scenarios, global events, and economic downturns, risks don’t pay off for SMBs. More so, that’s one of the pitfalls of New Year’s resolutions, setting a goal that’s unreasonable or impractical. Achieving resolutions is about establishing reasonable milestones versus a single challenging goal.

Rather, a resolution can be focused on planning for the new year and taking a hard look at what worked and what didn’t. Did your IT infrastructure perform as needed? Did you deal with staff shortages? Questions like those lead you to achievable realities.

Think about customer relations and service

If you have a customer base, a great resolution is to continue bridging the gap between service and expectations. Clients and customers offer repeat business to organizations that identify their needs, especially when it comes to problem/conflict resolution.

If this was a pain point for your organization in the previous year, it’s important to renovate your customer service model. Clients will always recall emotionally driven experiences, good and bad.

Expand your internet presence 

If you’re reading this, we can assume you have an available website. However, on the chance you don’t, then this resolution is straightforward. Getting a website and expanding your presence online is a terrific way to strengthen your brand, establish new customers, network with potential partners, and take advantage of net-driven technology. More so, data and metrics gained from these interactions prove invaluable for email campaigns or the like.

You won’t need much capital or resources to start a website, as numerous vendors offer paid or free versions with different prefabs to get your foot in the digital door.

Integrate virtual resources

Some SMBs lose pace with the competitive world but lack the resources to heavily invest in their infrastructure. It’s a real catch-22, as modernized IT and the means to build it are increasingly necessary. Thankfully, there are resources, and virtualized options are recommended as a new year’s resolution goal. Virtual and cloud IT options have provided a robust arsenal for SMBs, as it lets them scale infrastructure on a flexible level. Third-party providers like Bytagig, for instance, also offer rank experts and IT specialists, where such staff may be in short supply depending on the SMB location.

Set reasonable milestones

All our advice will be for naught if you don’t set achievable milestones at set dates and times. It’s the same mantra with resolutions in general: trying to aim high leads to a bad crash. Rather, you need to view your goals over an annual period and define how you’ll accomplish them. What types of resources do you need? Who will you network with? Will you need new staff?

Take an example, like starting a website. Who is needed for this project? When do you want the website to go live? Do you want specific designs and marquees, and if so, will you need to hire web designers? Questions like those will help you reach goals in a reasonable timeframe and space.

Tap into the mobile market

A massive percentage of people access mobile devices for business, personal, and internet use. It’s more commonplace than standard computer systems, and ignoring mobile accessibility is a missed opportunity for market share and eyes on your enterprise. Current trends predict that the use of active mobile devices will reach 18 billion by 2025, with each year seeing an increase of roughly 1 billion devices.

This trend has maintained a massive impact on website design, encouraging “responsive” web zones which are designed specifically for mobile devices like smartphones. Note how difficult it is to navigate a website not built for one, and you see why. Integrating this tech and accessibility into your service model can greatly expand brand strength, connections, and customer base.

Don’t neglect cybersecurity

We know it’s a subject we routinely harp on, but there’s a reason. SMBs remain a huge target for threat actors, and the presence of malware isn’t evaporating anytime soon. And, as we’ve pointed out before, smaller organizations are an ideal target for threat actors.

What that entails for your organization varies, but having some policy on cybersecurity is all but mandatory at this point.

Enter the new year with confidence

Our general tips and strategies can help you revise what’s in store for 2023, especially at the IT level. Of course, these are only suggestions, and how you proceed is wholly up to management and leadership.

If you’re still uncertain or want additional assistance with IT resources, Bytagig is here to help. For more information, you can contact us today.

About Bytagig

Bytagig is dedicated to providing reliable, full-scale cyber security and IT support for businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups in a variety of industries. Bytagig works both remotely with on-site support in Portland, San Diego, and Boston. Acting as internal IT staff, Bytagig handles employee desktop setup and support, comprehensive IT systems analysis, IT project management, website design, and more. Bytagig is setting the standard for MSPs by being placed on the Channel Future’s NexGen 101 list.