The Hidden Costs and Risks of Outdated Technology

It feels good to use tools you’re familiar with, but there comes a time when old tools start to hold you back. You might start to see unexpected costs that only surface over time. Let’s take a look at how you can know when it’s time to update your business’ tech and some of the hidden costs associated with not updating it.

How Outdated Tech Holds Your Business Back

Outdated technology both reduces productivity and increases your maintenance needs, both of which negatively impact your business.

Reduced Productivity

We’ll use one example here to illustrate this point: imagine seriously using dial-up Internet connectivity today when you could instead be using lightning-fast Internet solutions.

When you’re using an older and outdated technology in your operations, it can drastically reduce the amount of time you actually spend working and increase the amount of time you spend waiting around for it to work. Modern technology is typically faster, and over time, you’ll start to feel the impact of your slower tech. Modern solutions also tend to integrate better with each other, making the kind of seamless operations you want and expect a reality, whereas older technologies struggle in this regard. Older stuff is going to get slower over time anyway, especially as software continues to evolve and get more advanced.

In short, older technology places a limit on how much you can accomplish—a limit that is needless these days.

Increased Maintenance Needs

Older technology just can’t keep up with the needs of modern businesses, and it’s more prone to failure over time, as well as cybersecurity risks.

If your technology breaks down, chances are parts are going to be more difficult to come by, as fewer people are using older systems these days, and that difficulty will come with an increased cost of acquisition. Furthermore, the skills to maintain older systems are going to become increasingly rarer and harder to find. All of this makes emergency calls even more expensive and downright unaffordable for a small business.

In general, these increased maintenance needs and hidden costs make outdated technology both harder to service and unnecessarily expensive to continue using.

And Then There Are the Cybersecurity Challenges

This one is perhaps the most notorious and dangerous reason to stick with older technology, as it directly impacts your business continuity.

• Cyberthreat vulnerabilities - Outdated technology typically isn’t supported by the developer compared to more modern tools, which means it isn’t getting updated with patches that protect it from today’s advanced cyberthreats. This puts any business using outdated technology at risk, and when compliance and regulatory fines are in the picture, you can’t responsibly take that chance.
• Disaster recovery challenges - Older hardware also tends to fail more often, which makes data loss more likely, and it’s not as compatible with today’s powerful backup solutions, making business continuity difficult to maintain.

All in all, you’re left with technology that frustrates your team and puts your business at risk—and that’s where we come in.

We’ll Help You Upgrade Away from Outdated Tech

Preferred knows that your business has bigger things to worry about than its IT, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Find out how we can help you navigate the challenges of upgrading your IT infrastructure today by calling us at 708-781-7110.