The Start of the New Year: 3 Smart Resolutions for IT Consultants

For small businesses the start of a new year is a great time to review the last few months, pinpointing what went right, what floundered or tanked, and what simply didn’t happen.  It’s also the perfect time to think about what could happen in the year ahead and set goals to achieve it.

In no line of work is this truer than IT consulting, where technology moves at the speed of light and client expectations are exceptionally high.  Do your IT business a big favor and use the month of January to explore the following 3 New Year’s resolutions, which if implemented will make running your business and serving your clients easier.

Resolution #1 – Get better at saving money.

Most entrepreneurs want to make this happen, right?  IT consultants are in a unique position to do this for themselves and their clients using cloud technology.  Rather than investing in hardware you might need or creating a proprietary system for a client, use the cloud.  With utility-style cloud computing there’s no fixed or startup costs, making large-scale computing power available to small businesses everywhere.  Investigate your options; cloud computing could be the magic bullet that helps you save money while also giving you – and your clients – the latest in technology.

Resolution #2 – Get the right business insurance.

Business insurance is one of those things that’s easy to put off but painful to need and not have.  If you’re a start-up, have you bought professional liability insurance and general liability coverage for your business?  If your business is established, are you sure your current insurance is still the best fit?  Professional liability generally protects your business if you’re sued for negligently performing your services, even if you haven’t made a mistake – something perhaps more likely to occur in IT consulting than in other businesses.  General liability protects your business from third party claims for bodily injury, associated medical costs, and damage to someone else’s property.  Both are essential in order for you to protect your business.

Resolution #3 – Get serious about disaster preparedness.

Everything runs on data – data that can be lost or inaccessible in the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other disruptive event.  Even a small hiccup like a bad spring storm can wreak havoc on your and your clients’ operations if it brings down networks or takes out power.  In 2014 vow to be better prepared for the unexpected by inventorying devices and considering how operations would be affected if they became unavailable; making sure your data is frequently backed up off-site; and devising recovery strategies that will get things up and running as quickly as possible if one or more resource becomes unavailable.

The start of a new year presents the opportunity to make improvements and get a fresh start on nagging issues.  Use the three ideas above to further improve your small business and become more competitive with “the big guys.”

The contents of this article and the linked materials do not offer legal, business, or insurance advice related to the needs of any specific individual business. Please consult your professional advisor. 

Kevin Kerridge is the director of small business insurance for Hiscox, a company that provides customized business insurance for IT professionals including consultants, project managers, programmers, developers, designers, and many more technology professionals.