No matter what type of business you run, it’s probably safe to guess that you have an online presence and manage most or all of your business through a computer network. It’s probably also safe to guess that if your network crashed or your website went down, you would be losing money (or potential clients) until the issue was resolved.

There is no doubt about the importance of protecting your business from a security breach or network malfunction, but it’s also crucial to have strategies in place that keep the gears smoothly turning, from customer management to data storage and access.  

Here are several strategies to both protect and grow your online presence as a small business:

1.  Monitor Your Network

To minimize network crashes and mitigate their effects, we recommend hiring an IT service to provide constant network monitoring. With an IT team vigilantly tracking your network’s performance around the clock, any problems in the system can be immediately diagnosed and fixed. This ensures that you don’t miss out on valuable business opportunities and allows you to stay focused on your product and your customers. When it comes to network management it’s always best to be proactive because no one has the time (or the patience) to deal with an unexpected network crash that an IT service could have prevented.

2.  Be Prepared for an IT Disaster

Even with the most diligent monitoring, IT disasters do strike, so it’s best to be as prepared as possible. Some preventive steps you can take include automated and scheduled backups, offsite data protection, server imaging and replication, and cloud virtualization. Every business, no matter how small, should have a disaster recovery plan in place, especially when you consider that 70% of businesses that suffer a major data loss go out of business within a year.

3.  Frequently update your website

Growing your online presence requires that you keep your website content up to date. A blog is a great way to improve your search rankings and stand out from the competition. It’s also important to periodically update your homepage, services, and other website pages to ensure the content is still serving your audience. This is why we always recommend a business site that is easy to edit and update yourself.

4.  Keep your tech infrastructure updated

Maintaining a secure network also requires that you stay on top of infrastructure updates. When was the last time you or your hosting company updated online servers? Are your employees’ computers all running the latest version of Windows? When was the last time you replaced the wireless router in your server closet? When your hardware and software is up to date, the likelihood of a network malfunction decreases and your data is more secure. Moving your data to cloud storage will also reduce the strain on your company’s data management.

5.  Utilize cloud and mobile workforce solutions

Cloud and mobile workforce solutions allow you to access your data whether you’re in the office, on an airplane, or working from home. Google Apps for Work and Microsoft Office 365 will make your office more efficient and secure, providing file sharing, data storage, internal communication services, and more. If you need assistance transitioning your business management tools to a cloud workforce solution, a Microsoft Office or Google Apps specialist can help your business deploy, configure, and migrate to these cloud-based productivity apps.

Your online presence as a small business can be crucial to your success. Updating your tech infrastructure as well as your website content will help keep you ahead of the competition, and with some simple planning and proactive practices in place, you can turn what would have been an IT disaster into a minor hiccup.