Layer 7 Data Solutions is committed to delivering consistent, impeccable services to align your SMB with IT resources that will help you compete with larger players in your industry.  Traditionally Small and Medium sized business owners have experienced these technology issues:

Money:  The Cost of Technology Can Exclude Small Businesses from Competing with Larger Ones

With cash flow at a premium, every dollar spent on technology should be well thought out. Small and Medium businesses without the bench strength to make informed decisions as it relates to specific or all technology needs should seek out a partner who can help.

Lack of IT Skill Set / IT Human Resource Constraints

To say IT talent is in demand would be the understatement. Even if you land a gem, competing salaries from other companies in desperate need of your talented personnel is a constant worry.  The challenge of recruiting and retaining talent can be daunting.  You need a partner whom you can trust to implement and recommend technology that is a fit for your business.

Rapid Rate of Change & Proliferation Leading to Difficulty in Vetting/Understanding New Technology

Translation: if your team is more than busy trying to keep up with the current pace of your business, it is unrealistic to think you will have the time to understand what technology is right for your company. They key – as in all of the challenges – is to find the right partner who can do this for you, while you focus on what you do best.

Security & Compliance

At a high level, if your company in any way transacts and/or stores information that should not be made available to the public, you are probably governed by some kind of regulatory rules.  For example, a government contractor working on a classified project, would be expected to protect all files associated with the project from being exposed publicly.  Law firms are governed by eDiscovery regulations that take this even further.  The recent hack of healthcare giant Anthem is a chilling reminder to small businesses that even the largest of players in healthcare and beyond are susceptible to security breaches.  For small and medium businesses, engaging experienced technology services partners is critical to long-term success.

Scaling IT as the Company Grows

So, your new product/offering/software/application has hit its stride and droves of users from around the globe are lining up to leverage its innovative intelligence and automation tool sets. You now need to hire more people to help keep up with the demand. Spin up new infrastructure to store the new user data and process it efficiently. Your Google shared drive or free trial Dropbox account probably isn’t going to cut it any more.  Congratulations! And, welcome to the next phase of your business. It’s a challenging one, especially as it relates to technology.

Step one should be to go get a technology services provider who has helped other small businesses do this before and one who has relationships with and understanding of a wide-range of technology vendors that will help your business successfully evolve past the growth stage.