If your small business is starting to grow, building out additional network infrastructure to accommodate your new employees will quickly become a priority.

Before you begin building out your business network, it’s important to map the layout with your organization’s core objectives in mind, so we suggest putting everything on paper, first. Here’s a few pointers on how to avoid common mistakes when building a business network.

Remember to Plan Ahead

One of the most frustrating feelings you will experience is having to rework or rewire a system in order to further expand your network. Many small businesses hire wiring contractors to come in a professionally wire their business.

The advantages of this is twofold. You’ll be able to rest assured that the job will be done right the first time and you can instruct the wiring contractors on how to build your network in order to plan for future expansion.

Invest in Quality Hardware

Many small businesses rush to buy the cheapest network hardware that they can find, but, like most things in life, you typically get what you pay for. When you begin building out your business network, the investment in good quality hardware from vendors such as Cisco and HP can save you a tremendous amount of headaches down the road.

Switches and routers will fail, therefore it is important to not only buy highly rated network hardware, but to have spares on hand that are preprogrammed with your organization’s specific settings. Having a cold spare in your networking closet will keep downtime to an absolute minimum and will eliminate embarrassment since you’ll have the security knowing that your network can be back up and running within minutes of a failure.

Don’t Forget Battery Backups

While data backup is imperative to any business class network, ensuring the availability of power into your networked devices is also essential.

Even if your facility has backup generators, there’s usually a delay between the time it takes the generators to kick-in and the initial outage. What about power blip? To protect your business class network, always connect your networking devices into an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in order to ensure maximum uptime.

Are you ready to build the best network for your Greenville, SC or Atlanta, GA area business’ needs? Give us a call at (833) 482-6435 or contact us online — we’ll start with a network assessment and make a plan to guarantee your network will work with you and grow with you.

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