Are you extremely reliant on technology these days? As things move into the cloud, most of us need to be connected to get work done. That is why we expect technology to work 100% of the time, right? Well, the problem is that technology relies on the interaction between multiple complicated systems and there are many points of possible failure. So, it is a good idea to reset your expectations, because even with the best support, it is not always going to work perfectly.
Have you ever had a letter lost or delayed by the US Postal Service? The same thing can happen to email. While it works really well 99.9% of the time, your email can get delayed or lost. That is why it is a good idea to ask the recipient to confirm the receipt of an email or follow up with a phone call, if the email is particularly important.
We have come a long way in making technology simpler and more intuitive for users. However, the technology supporting this simplicity is getting more complex. Cloud computing is a good example. It allows you to access email from many different devices and makes your files available virtually anywhere. To support this simplicity, you need cloud servers, the internet connection at the hosting facility, your internet connection, your local network, and your local device to all be working properly. If any one of these things fails, you are without your files for at least a little while.
So even though new technologies can simplify our lives and improve productivity, they can lead to a lot of frustration if we do not have realistic expectations. Nothing is not going to work perfectly all of the time. So be prepared for occasional downtime. You will be a lot less frustrated when it does happen.
Want to Minimize Downtime?
While no technology works perfectly all of the time, having the right systems in place and a certain amount of redundancy can dramatically reduce downtime. By reviewing your processes and the technologies related to them, you can identify where problems are likely to happen and how to best mitigate them.
If you would like some help in analyzing your systems for reliability, security and productivity, we would be glad to help. Contact us to schedule a time to talk.
