As a small business expands, the need to manage this growth with updated technology should rate high on a company’s list of priorities. Should an organization experience rapid growth in a short period of time and fail to advance its technology to meet these new demands, the business owner may face significant challenges in the future, including loss of revenues, waning market share and adverse customer perceptions.

Incorporating the following tips into the company business plan will help ensure a smooth transition.

Don’t do everything yourself
Most small businesses believe they can administer technology issues themselves without the support of an independent technology firm. The cost of maintaining an in-house IT operation is often beyond the means of most small to mid-sized companies. However, the risk of lost data, system crashes, spyware and slow-running systems may be far greater for these organizations in terms of financial loss, diminished customer goodwill and declining productivity. For many small businesses, outsourcing the IT function has proven to cut costs considerably.

Look for a professional and trusted advisor
Small business owners tend to utilize trusted advisors for many of their decisions. Relying on experts in a particular field will produce a higher overall advantage. Such is the case for companies seeking tax advice or legal counsel. However, with IT, many of these owners are baffled by technology and have difficulty finding the right resource. As a result, they often depend on a family member who may know how to repair a PC, but is not skilled in information technology.

Investigate managed services
Managed service offerings of many IT providers offer a way to cap IT costs and control spending while guaranteeing a solid delivery of technology services. Managed service options such as outsourcing, co-location, service desk and disaster recovery can help reduce time-to-repair while increasing reliability and uptime.

Employ scalable technology
Consider technology that will scale as the business grows. The overall cost of IT is much more in comparison to initial hardware and software purchases. To properly leverage information technology, business owners should evaluate their needs over an extended period of time – typically 24 to 36 months – and examine the specific use of IT within the organization. The analysis will help determine if a more or less sophisticated system is needed.

Virtualization
Virtualization technology solutions simplify IT and allow companies to leverage storage, network, and computing resources to control costs and respond more rapidly to business issues and needs. A small business owner who transitions to a virtualized environment – allowing a single server class machine to run multiple specialized application servers simultaneously – will experience a return on investment at every system upgrade.

Technology is complex. However, strategically leveraging today’s technology to meet the challenges of a budding business will streamline operations, improve efficiency and reduce costs in the long-term.

Richard J. Reiffer is the chief technology officer for Trivalent Group, a technology firm based in Grandville, Mich.