It’s Time to Upgrade Your Business Computers

Upgrade is one of the most taboo four-letter words that can be spoken in a business environment. This is doubly true when it comes to computer hardware. From top to bottom, everyone in the company has reason not to want anything to do with upgrading.

The CEO wants no part of anything that might slow down productivity and the flow of revenue. The IT department wants nothing to do with the extra hours of employee training and issues that ensue from people using unfamiliar equipment. The employees would rather deal with the devil they know. And the accountants don’t even want to think about where the money for the upgrade, training, and temporary loss of productivity will be coming from.

Despite these very real concerns, the benefits of upgrading your business computer far outweigh the real and perceived downsides. In some cases, keeping things as they are is not an option. But whether an upgrade is forced or by choice, there are some excellent reasons to do it. Here are three:

You Will Be Better Served with Specialized Hardware

Specialized industries require specialized hardware. But you don’t have to have an aircraft or a tank to make use of the kind of industrial PC boards offered by companies like Kontron. If you are trying to meet today’s embedded and server needs with yesterday’s hardware, your business might find itself at a competitive disadvantage.

You don’t have to throw out the whole system. The newest tech in motherboards is ATX compatible. Low power, IoT ready embedded mITX motherboard with 5th generation Intel® 14nm Core I7, I5 & I3 processors are just one of the ways to juice up your system with enough power for modern server needs. Depending on your business, there is likely hardware that is especially designed to enhance the work you do. If your computing needs weren’t even imagined when your current computers were purchased, it’s past time to upgrade.

Upgrade for Better Security

computer-upgrades Old computers run old operating systems. And the easiest vector of attack available to hackers is outdated software running on outdated hardware. Even if you could run the latest version of your preferred OS on your current hardware, there will likely be incompatibilities with some of your peripherals. There will also likely be performance issues that make the experience of using those mismatched systems a pain for all concerned.

At this point, if you are still running Windows XP, you are asking for the security apocalypse that is in your near future. Even Windows 7 is two generations behind at this point. One of the stated reasons Microsoft is pushing Windows 10 so hard on users of older systems is to increase the level of security across the board. It was probably not a good idea for Microsoft to load the Windows 10 bits onto computers of people who did not want the upgrade, but it is certain that running your business on outdated hardware leaves it open to attack.

Upgrade for Compatibility

With outdated hardware, you will quickly find yourself locked out of all the latest advances. Windows Hello might be a better way for your employees to login to their workstations, except the 10-year-old computers they have to use are incompatible. Is there a reason your corporate laptops don’t have fingerprint login? Incompatible hardware.

Why do your laptop users have to plug in to ethernet to download large files? Might it be that their built-in WiFi is out of date? Does that bluetooth LE peripheral not work with your laptop? Check your bluetooth standard on your equipment. The list goes on and on. Some will be small things, while others will be quite significant. It all adds up to one undeniable conclusion. Whether it is because you need specialized hardware for your business or better security or greater compatibility, it is past time you upgrade your computer hardware.

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