CoreTech Blog

Replacing your aging or broken-down hardware is a part of doing business, and one that few business owners want to think about before it must be done. Hardware is expensive and tricky to replace without experiencing at least some downtime. That’s not to mention arguably one of the most important questions you have to ask yourself: What do you do with your old technology that’s filled with sensitive data?

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Nobody likes talking about impending disasters or expenditures, but the failure of your mission-critical technology is something that you need to keep in mind, especially when planning your IT budget and expenses for the next few years. What happens with your old technology is of equal importance.

Plan for Your Technology’s Inevitable Replacement
When it comes to your mission-critical technology, having a plan can go a long way. You don’t want to be caught unaware, as a hardware failure can strike at any given moment. It helps to be prepared for untimely technology troubles by having an IT roadmap; a plan which details your technology expenditures over the next five or ten years. You should account for regular technology tune-ups and replacements, as well as emergency maintenance that’s impossible to predict.

Wipe All Hard Drives and Devices
It takes a lot more than a traditional factory reset to ensure that all of your business’s data has been removed from a hard drive. Before throwing your old PC out, make sure that this data concern has been addressed. Only a trained technology professional can provide the thorough scrubbing that a used hard drive needs before it’s thrown out. CoreTech can give you a hand with this delicate task.

Properly Dispose of Your Devices
Once you’re confident that your data has been removed from your hardware, it’s time to get rid of it. This is easier said than done, though. The world has a serious e-waste problem, especially in some developing countries. Hardware components contain precious metals that, in great quantities, can cause damage to the environment. Furthermore, developing countries that receive the bulk of this e-waste will use dangerous methods of isolating these materials, which further damage the atmosphere. It’s recommended that you contact CoreTech to properly and safely get rid of your e-waste for you.

Of course, if you’re just routinely upgrading your workstations, and there’s nothing really wrong with your old hardware, you might consider donating your outdated technology to local charities or nonprofits. Doing so gives your reputation a boost within your community, and can open the door to potential clientele. You can even keep it hanging around your office for use in the event that a workstation becomes unusable.

Does this process sound like too big of a pain? Whatever you do, don’t just throw out your old and ailing technology. Instead, contact CoreTech. We can work with your business to build an IT roadmap to plan out future technology acquisitions, as well as help you wipe your old technology and dispose of it in an environmentally-friendly manner.

It doesn’t take much to derail a business. Even the slightest disruption in power can lead to an unexpected power-down, and something as simple as a severe rainstorm could lead to floods that wash away your data. The point stands that you have everything to lose, and without data backup and disaster recovery, your business practices could be in danger.

It’s every business owner’s worst nightmare: one mistake, and all of their data is wiped out. This very situation happened recently to a hosting provider, and his story serves as a cautionary tale in regard to data storage best practices.

Data Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) isn’t your average data backup solution. In fact, it’s far from any traditional backup tool that you might have used in recent years. Here’s how BDR is changing the way that organizations approach business continuity and ensuring their continued success and sustainability.

Your business’s data is its lifeline. Without it, you can’t hope to continue functioning, especially if you’re unable to recover it following a data loss disaster. Businesses that experience a devastating data loss incident, and are unable to recover, are likely to go out of business within one calendar year following the incident. Is your business prepared to tackle a data loss disaster?

The continuity of your business should be a major priority, especially considering how the livelihood of yourself and your employees is on the line. Believe it or not, there are some organizations out there that don’t give a second thought to the preservation of their data and critical assets. Therefore, it’s clear that you need to pay proper attention to how your organization handles problems like natural disasters, data loss, hacking attacks, and other hazardous incidents.

When it comes to your business’s technology infrastructure, the more basic it is, the better. Granted, a simple IT infrastructure isn’t always easy to install, especially when there are so many great solutions on the market that can be implemented to achieve optimal efficiency. Sometimes the best IT solutions are those that make your technology simpler to manage, and your network less complicated. That said, you’d think redundancy would complicate this formula, but it’s actually a necessity for your business continuity plan.

September 30th is Disaster Preparedness Day. This gives us a great reason to go over some of the most common disasters that can potentially affect your businesses. There are dozens of potential disasters to choose from, but since we’re an IT company, we’re going to focus on the four top disasters that can mess with your company’s IT infrastructure.