The journey to digital transformation, building a connected enterprise and enabling the modern workforce are concepts that are heavily embedded in today’s business world. We know that global tech giants such as Google and Amazon are playing a significant role in driving rapid change in the technology landscape which is fundamentally changing the way we do business.

Disruptive innovations and emerging technologies are shaking up markets and industries but what does all this mean for small business owners? The modern workforce is not simply about millennials, beanbags, and in-house baristas. Technology underpins every aspect of the business and having a robust, secure, and fit-for-purpose IT backbone is essential for every small business. The kit in your comms room is the beating heart of the organisation, feeding every departmental process, every employee experience, and every customer transaction.

For technology professionals in the SMB arena, it is a constant challenge to plan and execute an ever-evolving digital strategy, improve and maintain efficient systems and deliver value to your organisation. Many small businesses are dependent on outdated and legacy infrastructure and are not recognising the need to modernise their IT as an urgent priority.

In terms of owning assets, ageing servers, storage, and network hardware are not quite as desirable as a vintage bottle of wine or a classic car. The limitations of legacy IT systems and the inefficient use of technology can act as a major barrier to the future growth of the business. Manual integrations, ever-increasing maintenance costs, products and services approaching end of support, and evolving security threats are a heavy burden on small business IT resources.

Many small business leaders accept that they need to make a conscious shift towards a more agile digital future but making that leap, embracing the change, and taking action seems daunting. Maybe you have started the conversation but not made any real progress. Maybe you are taking a conservative approach. Maybe budget restrictions or a lack of knowledge of what to invest in are holding you back. Sound familiar? Well, you are not alone. Almost 90% of SMBs are over reliant on legacy technology and are facing numerous risks every day.

Change is inevitable, we all accept that, but it is keeping up with the pace of change that is the biggest challenge. The modern workforce is driving the need for SMBs to modernise their infrastructure. The workforce is no longer static. Empowering staff and their always-on habits, enhancing connectivity, power and compute and maintaining the security of the network and your customer’s data are all paramount to future-proofing the business.

Continually advancing technology means that the expectations of the modern workforce are rising. Nowadays, employees need to have the option to make a video call from a mountain summit and customers need to be able to access your products and services from wherever they are, whenever they want.

Having smart tech can help to meet modern workforce demands. Focusing on a modernisation strategy will mean more agile, sustainable, and efficient systems that will help businesses to accelerate innovation, strengthen customer relationships through increased productivity and drive growth and competitive advantage.

This all sounds great but right now, you are probably standing at a crossroads. The opportunities offered through the adoption of new digital technology are clear for most SMBs but the journey to this modernisation utopia seems fraught with complicated and costly challenges. You are in the driver’s seat but there is a fork in the road ahead and there’s little or no signage indicating which way leads where. You cannot back up and turn around, you must move forwards and be bold and decisive when it comes to choosing the right direction. You need an IT transformation roadmap.

Modernising your IT is no longer just an option, it is now a necessity. Your job now is to help the business understand that IT is not just a necessary cost or a means to an end but more of a powerful enabler and driver of competitive advantage, but we all know that is easier said than done.

The perpetual modern-day challenge is to translate digital transformation into business opportunities. IT modernisation is not solely a matter of changing or upgrading your technology. Decommission the old and embrace the new is far too simplistic. It is also about people and process. It is more of a culture shift as opposed to a transactional event. Leveraging the potential of the modern workforce requires planning, focus, leadership and more importantly, the right partner.

Technology is no longer just physical hardware that are assets that a company owns and operates. It has become more of a suite of products and services that the business consumes and utilises, as necessary. There are multiple technology options that need to be evaluated. The sheer number of available solutions on the market, differing complexity and variable price points means that deciding what to invest in, how to deploy it and what value it will add is a very time-consuming task.

At CE Global, we are busy helping our customers accelerate this process. We work hard on developing our own productivity and performance through digital enhancement so that we can empower our staff, increase our service offerings to our customers and sustain growth. As an SMB, it is important to engage a partner that can proactively support you in realising your digital future.

IT departments and professionals in SMBs are under increasing pressure to support and adopt leading-edge, next-gen capabilities surrounding concepts such as cybersecurity, data protection, analytics, and automation. With investors and stakeholders more demanding than ever, any modernisation efforts must deliver value and it is almost always on a restricted budget.

Simplify your architecture, re-organise your IT operating model, reduce the vendor landscape. The priorities are endless and sometimes conflicting. CE Global has the people, processes and the “peace of mind” technology to support you in delivering a modern IT environment that is scalable, high-performing, and intuitive that meets the needs of the modern workforce.

You do not need an extensive in-house team of diverse technical resources, experienced project managers or IT operations skills. You need a managed service provider with a reputation for collaboration, trust, and shared values. That fork in the road may be unfamiliar territory on a route you have not been on before but if you are with someone who knows the right way to go way, it makes things an awful lot easier.

Perhaps you need a review of your current set-up, assistance with the deployment and migration to the new systems and then on-going support through a simple and cost-effective managed service offering. Whether you are an established SMB or a rising start-up, CE Global can help you and your teams make smart technology decisions.

To embrace the concept of the modern workforce and to use it as a mandate for updating your ageing IT infrastructure, you must look at it holistically. Focus should be two-fold: Enhancing the end-user experience and having a secure and flexible platform that delivers value. There are tangible benefits that derive from having engaged, involved, and empowered staff and technology is your biggest ally in achieving this.

A modernised platform based on hybrid managed infrastructure is the cornerstone for your digital strategy. Envisage a robust and fully managed IT set up that is secure in design and simple in demands. CE Global managed infrastructure creates a clear pathway to helping organisations achieve their business outcomes. We make that fork in the road less daunting, give you the direction you are looking for and help you navigate that potentially challenging terrain on the journey to modernisation.

From a small business IT perspective, the conflicting priorities, constant firefighting, and lack of sophistication in terms of IT investments means you might feel like you cannot see the wood for the trees. Having a partner that can help provide clarity of vision coupled with peace of mind can take you a long way to future-proofing your business. It is about playing the long game and addressing today’s priorities for tomorrow’s benefits.

With easy to deploy cloud technologies, energy efficient, cost effective compute solutions and enhanced security and compliance features, you will have a fully managed modern hybrid infrastructure that will enable innovation, collaboration, business agility and measurable growth. Enhance your cloud-based tools and platforms whilst having complete peace of mind that your critical workloads and applications are always-on and fully optimised.

Get back to what keeps you awake at night. You really want to be that agile, tech-driven business that understands the needs of the modern workforce, attracts, and retains top talent and fully utilises the advantages of a modern IT platform to create competitive advantage…but…what is it that is holding you back? The chances are that with the right approach, it is not insurmountable.

You do not always need to settle for just “keeping the lights on.” There are ways you could be more productive. You do not need to sweat your assets and harbour those legacy IT systems. You could be more risk averse. You do not need to worry about rising operating costs, changing regulations, or falling behind the competition. You could be more forward thinking.

My teams at CE Global are living and breathing the modern workforce concept daily. We are thriving on helping SMBs improve the relationship between users and IT, creating thought leadership for digital transformation, increasing the relevance of IT, and helping to drive innovation with our customers.

So now you are back at the fork in the road, does it still seem unsettling? You know one way is the express highway to modernisation but the other could be a dead end. The relationship between risk and opportunity has never been so prevalent. This journey is not just about understanding the ‘what’ but also knowing the ‘how.’ You need a partner you can trust, a solution you can believe in and a service that you can rely on.

Let CE Global be your compass. Not only will we ensure you take the right road, but we will also make sure you understand everything you see along the way. With simplicity at the back end and enhanced functionality powering the front-end, our solutions will be your vehicle, our managed services your insurance. Having that peace of mind will make you feel less reluctant about taking the handbrake off and putting your foot on the accelerator. It is always quietly satisfying when you can see the competition in your rear view. We will help you keep them there.