Success is wonderful… until you need to scale. Scaling your business is an exciting time - since growth is a positive thing. During all this excitement however, there are a number of concerns, including accountability, relationship management, software licensing, server load balancing and migrations, and security concerns.
The below 5 concerns and solutions when scaling your business can help iron out the hiccups.
Concerns When Scaling Your Business
- Accountability & Relationship Management
- Scaling Software
- Server Load
- Security
- Being Understaffed
Accountability & Relationship Management
When a company grows larger there is more need than ever for accountability. For example, if a customer service department grows from just a few people to a crew of 20, the accountability is no longer ‘oh yes, you were talking to Steve’ and changes to ‘you were talking to a customer service rep’. This newfound accountability must be managed through internal systems like a CRM and/or ticketing system.
Scaling Software
Your small software licensing agreement needs to scale with you, ideally through this growth cycle and future ones. Many businesses are now looking to cloud-based software systems for the answer. While cloud computing can be an excellent solution, you need to negotiate the terms carefully, read the fine print, and keep in mind your future scaling needs.
Server Load
With all these new users and new software, you’re going to need more hardware (or virtual hardware). Scaling hardware to adjust to a growing business however can be challenging - especially with server migrations. This is why many companies are beginning to evaluate virtual server options. We have an excellent report on migrating servers quickly that you can read here.
Security
There are very few times a company is more vulnerable to cyber attacks and security loopholes than while they’re scaling. A quick addition of a large number of users (who aren’t familiar with security policies), combined with the changing infrastructure architecture creates a network security nightmare. Before any scaling of infrastructure, have a strong plan for your interim and on-going network security. To help point you in the right security direction checkout our simple things you can do to improve your cybersecurity posture eBook.
Being Understaffed
Many companies fail to calculate exactly how many man-hours are involved in making the necessary migrations, software implementations and other elements of company scaling. These hours need to be on top of regular workloads, which further burdens already-overburdened IT departments.
If you suspect that you might not have the resources available to successfully scale - while keeping your data secure - we encourage you to contact us. Our experts can help guide you through successful cloud software negotiations, keep your network security airtight and make the overall transitions smoother.
