In order to look after your company efficiently, hardware management, either by yourself or by a managed services provider (MSP) in Orange County, is essential preparation for budgeting and to protect against nasty surprises. Normally, hardware is not something anyone worries about until there are problems. However, these problems could see your business suffering from downtime, making your staff unproductive, as well as leaving you open to security threats. However, there are proactive steps you can take to protect your systems so that you can be prepared if anything were to happen.

Cleanliness

The first stage is to make sure all your hardware is free of dust and grime, and this isn’t only about making it more pleasant to work with. Sufficient ventilation is important for electrical equipment, as dust can clog up air vents adversely affecting performance and causing premature breakdowns. It is also important not to store anything in direct sunlight or close to heat sources as these can both cause equipment to overheat. Printers and scanners should also be cleaned and checked inside and out for blockages, while print heads and cartridges should be replaced if they are worn out.

Inventories

A recommendation from managed services experts in Orange County is to keep an updated inventory with serial numbers of all the hardware used in your offices and offsite. This should include laptops, PCs, tablets or smartphones, and any other network hardware. An inventory is a perfect way to manage your hardware lifecycle. It is because when you know how long you have had equipment, you can better assess when a replacement is due. As an added bonus, it also helps potential accidental duplication ordering of equipment you already own.

Hardware Policy

Creating a policy that gives employees a guide of how to use, replace, and store hardware and devices should ensure that they require fewer repairs, last longer and result in you experiencing a reduced impact from breakdowns. This policy should include:

• Guidelines for acceptable use
• Security aspects
• Disaster recovery
• Network setup and responsibility for IT services

 

In this way, you can let your employees know what the company policy is for any eventuality, ensuring that complex passwords are used, virus protection is installed and run frequently, and only acceptable software is downloaded as procedures to follow should a disaster befall your IT infrastructure.

Keeping your technology current and working is essential for a successful business. If you would like to know more about hardware maintenance and general hardware management, you should consult a managed services provider in Orange County. Contact us at Technijian so that our experts can help you with all your hardware needs to ensure continued success for your company.