According to the old axiom “idle hands are the devil’s tool” and in the world of business those idle hands can cost companies an incredible amount of money and lost time. With every company looking to cut operational costs and minimize waste there seems to be an endless array of theories and practices that can be implemented to increase employee productivity and promote efficiency.
Many of these ideas focus exclusively on the employee and how to properly motivate them to meet a particular requirement or goal. What most companies don’t realize is that they are ignoring a major factor in ensuring their employees are afforded the most effective means to reach those benchmarks.
In today’s business world the key to sustaining a truly seamless work environment is in the maintenance of its computer network system.
While employee morale is important and finding the most qualified candidate for a position can’t be underestimated, the truth is, if they aren’t equipped with the necessary tools to complete their job it will be just a matter of time before their hands become idle.
When a company ignores the health of their computer network system they are essentially setting their employees and business up for a serious collapse. This is mainly due to a crippling computer disease known as fragmentation. It is fragmentation that causes the majority of business slowdowns and as a progressive disease, if left untreated, it will ultimately send a network crashing.
Companies build their reputation for efficiency and reliability largely on the capabilities associated with their computer network. While no one would deny the tremendous benefits associated with the advancement of the computer age there must be an understanding that it hasn’t arisen without its flaws. As much as computers have brought businesses to a new level of productivity it is important to realize that there is a grave price to pay for those who fail to keep those computers healthy.
Fragmentation is that one culprit that will bring a company to its knees and due to its methodical progression it often leads to the impression that there is something wrong with a companies employees and not the network itself. An employer sees an employee sitting at their desk staring at a screen and they think that person is wasting time when in fact they are just waiting for the computer to complete a request.
That delay is caused in large part to a hard drive infected with fragmented files. These files exist because of the very manner in which a hard drive saves and stores information. A hard drive thinks of nothing but space and when a file is saved it is placed directly behind the last file saved. When that file is recalled and modified it no longer fits inside that original space so the hard drive then cuts the excess information and saves it in the next available space. This practice can go on and on until a single file is fragmented into thousands of pieces.
It is those files that slow a computer down to a crawl and when speed slows on the hard drive productivity inside a business takes the same hit. Employees are forced to wait for invoices, shipping manifests, spreadsheets, presentations, they are forced to deal with a sluggish Internet and have difficulty accessing and sending email. With all of these byproducts of fragmentation it is no mystery how this disease can cripple a business.
Fortunately there is an easy and effective solution to the dangers of fragmentation. Companies who are serious about safeguarding their computer network system from slowdowns associated with fragmentation are certain to install defragmentation software. This simple act removes those fragmented files, essentially rejoining all those pieces of a fragmented file and saving them in one space. By doing this, the speed of a network increases dramatically and efficiency is restored.
With a computer network properly protected from fragmented files a business will avoid the costs associated with a loss in productivity. For any company looking to cut operational costs in order to increase their financial bottom line they should first make sure their computer network is running at its optimal speed and for this to be the case that network must have defrag software guarding against any slowdown.
