Now Is the Right Time to Do a 'Back-to-School' Technology Check

We are all familiar with the “back to school” time of year. Summer is ending and it is time to focus on another “school” year. Of course, the ultimate goal is to do enough preparation work so that you can start the new year in the best position possible. With this in mind, let’s discuss some “back to school” items for your technology.

Always important is making sure you have all the necessary materials and tools — especially updated technology.

Maybe it’s time to upgrade your computer, tablet, smartphone, etc., to help better achieve your technology goals for the rest of the year. Or perhaps the Internet connection for your office and home, which is clearly a critical a component of your technology infrastructure given your day-to-day business needs, might also be in need of an upgrade to the bandwidth (speed) of the connection.

Also, make sure you’re up-to-date with the latest features and tools of the systems used by your firm.

A new feature or update have been introduced while you were on vacation, so take a moment and review the recent announcements/messages from your core technology partners. Maybe you need to watch a webinar again that highlights the new features for one of the systems. You definitely don’t want to miss out on any efficiency opportunities simply because you were on vacation.

A new school year typically means new clothes and haircuts. Do the same with your technology.  Uninstall and delete programs that you no longer use on various types of hardware (computer, tablet, smartphone).

Do the same clean-up effort with any cloud-based applications. For example, do you still have an active account with a cloud-based provider that you never use?  Sometimes we cancel services, but still have an active account with credit card details and other information previously collected.

Another important area is to make sure all of your programs are up to date with the latest version, which often entails bug fixes and security updates.

No doubt, there’s always excitement about going back to school, especially if you enjoy learning and getting exposure to new ideas. Think about technology and your firm’s operations with the same mindset.

Opportunities abound throughout our profession — from conferences and workshops to webinars and case studies. Just like starting new classes at the beginning of the school year, think about selecting one or two areas where you can to expand your technology knowledge.