6 Ways Investing in IT Can Help Your Business During a Recession

Investing in your IT can help save money during a recession. Automation, cloud computing, data analytics, security, and mobility can all help businesses reduce their costs and increase their efficiency. By investing in the right IT solutions, businesses can make sure they remain competitive and profitable during a recession.

1. Automation

Automation can help reduce costs and enable businesses to become more efficient during a recession. Automation can be used to automate mundane or repetitive tasks, freeing up time and resources that can be used to focus on more important tasks.

Examples of automation:

•  Automated data entry: Automated data entry can help reduce the time and cost associated with manual data entry. Automated data entry can help speed up the process and reduce the risk of errors.
• Automated workflow: Automated workflow can help streamline processes and reduce the time it takes to complete tasks. Automated workflow can also help reduce the need for manual intervention, freeing up employees to focus their time and energy on more important tasks.
• Automated reminders: Automated reminders can help businesses stay on top of tasks and stay organized. Automated reminders can help businesses remember to follow up with customers, meet deadlines, and stay on top of important tasks.
• Automated customer service: Automated customer service can help businesses provide faster and more reliable service. Automated customer service can help reduce the need for manual customer service, providing customers with a seamless experience.
• Automated billing: Automated billing can help businesses reduce the time and cost associated with manual billing. Automated billing can help streamline the billing process and reduce the risk of errors.
  
  

2. Cloud Computing

The cloud can help businesses reduce their IT costs during a recession. Cloud computing allows businesses to pay for the IT services they need without having to own and maintain the hardware and software necessary to run their operations.

Examples of cloud computing:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): This type of cloud computing provides users with access to physical or virtual machines, storage, networks, and other computing resources through a cloud provider.
• Platform as a service (PaaS): This type of cloud computing allows developers to deploy, manage, and build applications without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.
• Software as a service (SaaS): This type of cloud computing enables users to access applications over the internet and pay for the services they use on a subscription basis.
• Storage as a service (STaaS): This type of cloud computing provides users with access to a variety of storage solutions such as block storage, object storage, and file storage.
• Database as a Service (DBaaS): This type of cloud computing offers users access to cloud-based database solutions.
  
  

3. Data Analytics

Data analytics can help businesses identify opportunities and trends in their customer data and make informed decisions during a recession. Data analytics can also be used to identify areas of cost savings and increase efficiency.

Examples of data analytics:

• Customer segmentation: Analyzing customer data to divide customers into groups based on shared characteristics.
• Predictive analytics: Using machine learning to predict future outcomes.
• Churn analysis: Analyzing customer behavior to identify which customers are at risk of leaving a business.
• Social media analytics: Analyzing social media data to identify trends and customer sentiment.
• A/B testing: Comparing two versions of a web page, email, or other digital asset to determine which performs better.
• Text analytics: Analyzing unstructured text data to extract insights.
• Web analytics: Analyzing web traffic to identify trends and measure performance.
  
  

4. Security

Security is always important for businesses, but during a recession, it is even more important. IT can help businesses protect their data and systems from malicious actors, ensuring that their operations remain secure.

Examples of Security:

• Firewalls: Firewalls help to keep unauthorized users from accessing a network or computer system.
• Password Protection: Requiring users to have complex passwords is one of the best ways to protect a computer system.
• Anti-Virus Software: Anti-Virus software helps to detect and remove malicious software and viruses that can infect a computer system.
• Encryption: Encrypting data protects it from being read or accessed by unauthorized users.
• Data Backup: Regularly backing up data is important to protect against data loss due to hardware or software failure.
• Network Access Control: Network Access Control (NAC) helps to restrict access to a network based on user roles, device type, and other criteria.
  
  

5. Mobility

Mobility can help businesses stay flexible and competitive during a recession. By allowing employees to access data and applications from anywhere, businesses can reduce their overhead costs and keep their operations running smoothly.

Examples of mobility:

• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): This allows employees to use their personal mobile devices for work purposes.
• Mobile Applications: Enterprise mobile apps enable employees to access corporate data and applications from anywhere.
• Cloud Computing: Cloud computing enables employees to access data and applications from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Mobile Device Management (MDM): MDM allows IT administrators to manage and secure mobile devices remotely.
• Virtual Private Network (VPN): VPNs allow employees to access corporate networks securely from any remote location.
  
  

6. Systems that Scale

For most companies, payroll is the single biggest cost of doing business. If you do find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to reduce payroll, you’ll see larger cost savings if the software and services that support those employees also scale. 

Examples of IT systems that scale easily:

• Hosted Microsoft Exchange is typically billed per mailbox per month. Make sure retired employees’ mailboxes are archived and deleted to keep monthly costs low.
• Hosted SharePoint is typically billed by storage space. Start small and only spend more if you need the space.
• Hosted chat is often free. Don’t spend money on an internal chat server unless you need the extra security or customizability.
• Salesforce and other web-delivered software as a service like Google Apps for Business are often billed per user per year. Review your renewal closely and buy the minimum you need, you can add more as you go.
• Adobe PDF Online offers unlimited PDF creation from most major file formats for about $10/user/month.
• If it’s time to renew your ISP contract, do you need as much bandwidth as you did when you signed the contract? Can you switch to another provider, or combine telephone and data bandwidth and save? Most ISPs will happily upgrade you later for free, so start with what you know you need rather than what you think you might need later.