How to Prepare Your Business for 2021

2020 was a tough year for every business owner. Small business owners suffered a lot due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, things are slowly becoming normal with time. It is a good idea for business owners to prepare their business for 2021. In this article, we are going to share some tips that will help you in preparing your business for 2021.

1. Assess your business

If you want to prepare your business for 2021, then you should first take a step back. You should look at the bigger picture. This will help you determine the operational changes that you need. You should learn about the SWOT analysis. It will help you in finding new opportunities for your business. This will help you in finding areas where you can grow your business. Also, it will help you in determining your client demands. Business reviews will also help you in learning new things about your business.

Most businesses have already embraced remote work. Remote work is only going to become bigger in 2021. Thus, you should work on increasing your remote working capabilities.

2. Audit your software and hardware

2020 was the last year for popular older OS and applications. MS has already stopped supporting Windows 7. Thus, they are not going to update their old OS. Also, Adobe will stop updating Flash after 2020. It is a good idea to update your old operating systems and systems.

Hardware can break down at any time. Also, they are never going to break at a perfect or convenient time. It is important to monitor your hardware regularly. This will ensure that you know about hardware that is going to break soon. You should always try to update your old hardware. This will help you in preventing an unexpected crash. You should always change your hardware every 5 years. It will help you in reducing the chance of hardware failures.

You might be using old versions of some important programs which you can replace. It is important to understand your employees and business needs. This will help you in creating a good IT plan for your business. You can create a perfect IT budget for your business. Also, you can replace your outdated software and hardware. It is also a good idea to split your labor and hardware costs between fiscal years.

Many companies actually forget about their storage needs. Your hard drives might be getting cramped. Make sure that you are limiting the use of physical records. Also, you should look for the best digital storage available in the market. Cloud services will help you in finding the best storage options for your business. You can store an almost unlimited amount of data in the cloud.

3. Web Presence

You should always focus on improving your web presence. It is a good time to visit your website and check if it is working properly. Make sure that it is optimized for smartphones also. You should also check the search result rankings of your website.

If you think that your search ranking is bad, then you should look into bets SEO practices. This will help you in improving your site search ranking.

If EU citizens are visiting your site, then you need to follow the GDPR regulations. GDPR mainly focuses on protecting the privacy of its citizens. The compliance is going to be simple for most of the sites. However, you should quickly audit your site and check if it needs any updates.

4. Check your security and backup policies

You should audit your backup and security policies before entering the next year. Make sure to test your backup policy. This will ensure that your backups are actually working. Many businesses were hit by ransomware attacks by 2020. Thus, it is important to have a good backup policy. A disaster recovery plan will help you in recovering your data in case of a data disaster. Most companies have a DR plan but they forget about it.

Make sure that your employees are updating their passwords regularly. It is a good idea to use password managers like the Last Pass. Password managers will ensure that your employees are using strong passwords. Also, your employees can keep track of their passwords without remembering them.

Most employees are working from their homes now. Thus, you should ensure that their systems are protected from attackers. Make sure that they are not using a public Wi-Fi network for doing your work. This will be a security disaster for your business. Also, you should educate your employees about the latest security incidents. They should know about basic things like phishing and keylogger. This will ensure that your employees won’t fall for phishing emails.

You should check your security policy regularly. It is a good time to assess your IT policies. This will ensure that your business is ready for the next year. If you still have an outdated security policy, then you should consider updating it. Make sure that your entire security policy is clear.

Conclusion

These are some tips that will help you in preparing your business for 2021. It is a good time to create a successful strategy. However, it is very tough for SMBs to create a good IT strategy. Thus, you should consider working with a good MSP. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire will help you in creating an IT strategy for 2021. They will help you in updating your backup and security strategy. If you are considering moving to the cloud, then they will help you in the cloud migration process. This will help you in reducing the burden from your IT team. If you need more information regarding IT services, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.