- Companies with multiple physical locations often face challenges with secure networking, standardizing operating procedures, and user access management.
- Multi-site organizations are increasingly looking to outside vendors for technical support and employee training.
- A strategic technology advisor can help prioritize IT investments to the right initiatives for sustainable business growth.
In the post-pandemic age of hybrid work environments and satellite office locations, business IT strategy is more complex than ever. On one hand, companies need to prioritize proactive cybersecurity measures to gate proprietary materials and sensitive data. At the same time, work itself is much easier when employees can access company information from their phones or while sitting at a coffee shop.
As the market bounces back and we see more corporate consolidation, many companies are finding themselves with multiple physical locations, many of which are full of dated hardware and poorly configured networks. Although technology audits are often part of due diligence before an acquisition, businesses need a plan to update technology after a merger is completed.
Our annual business and technology survey took a wide view of how companies of all sizes across many industries are facing IT challenges. For this article, we’ve zoomed in on businesses with multiple locations to see how they’re approaching IT strategy.
Multi-Location Business Formats
Despite some big-name companies pushing their return-to-office plans, it’s undeniable that the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the way businesses operate. The future of work is hybrid.
A recent Gallup poll found that eight in ten remote-capable employees expect to work in hybrid or fully remote environments. This positions industries with high regulatory and security requirements, such as healthcare and the financial sector, with the added challenge of protecting their networks as employees log in from home and public Wi-Fi networks.
Meanwhile, merger and acquisition activity is increasing in 2024 as many analysts expect a loosening of federal monetary policy. Even before this, business growth has favored satellite offices and added physical locations. From 2019 to 2021, the South saw substantially faster growth in business establishments than the Midwest, Northeast, or West, and many companies in East Tennessee are encountering growing pains as their technology expansion does not keep pace with other business gains.
Of the multi-location companies we surveyed, 20.3% said their IT budgets were adequate but money was being spent on the wrong initiatives, while 19.5% said a lack of IT investment was hindering their ability to remain competitive.
Network Security
From a telecoms standpoint, multi-site businesses can lean into technologies such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to quickly route web traffic and efficiently use bandwidth on a private wide-area network. But in terms of day-to-day operations, those technical details fall to the company’s IT and internet service providers.
An often overlooked aspect of multi-location work is the importance of building and maintaining a secure cloud-based infrastructure. Investment into system security is too frequently left out of business expansion plans. One of our survey respondents put it this way:
“IT professionals and business executives may have different perspectives and priorities. IT teams may focus on system performance, security, and scalability, while business leaders may prioritize market expansion, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction. Aligning these distinct viewpoints can be challenging.”
Executives are concerned about keeping pace with technology, but they also emphasize the critical importance of business operations and entrepreneurial skills. This leads to a common disconnect: IT professionals pursue training in how technology works while business leaders want to see training bring more operational insights as to how technology can benefit the organization.
Sustainable company growth needs to close the gap between technology skills and entrepreneurial skills. Organizations doing this well are giving IT teams a seat at the table in business operational discussions—and equipping those IT teams to offer valuable contributions.
Process and Equipment Standardization
Acquiring new locations usually means acquiring new equipment. A diverse inventory of technology brands and models ultimately adds more costs in maintenance and training. To avoid compatibility issues, there’s a heavy upfront investment to replace and update technologies.
Most of our survey respondents, however, focused on process challenges. Standardizing equipment means new training for employees, many of whom may be resistant to change. Especially in the case of a merger, the two companies likely had different vendor relationships and preferred operating procedures that may not be compatible. Streamlining the organization means something has to give.
One executive we talked to said, “Digital transformation and the implementation of new technologies often require changes in business processes and culture. This can trigger employee unrest and resistance, requiring managers to effectively manage change.”
To this end, an effective IT strategy has to include a change management plan. End users and stakeholders need to come together to share ideas and concerns to see the highest adoption rates of any new system.
Remote Support and Training
We asked executives at multi-location companies what their biggest challenges would be in 2024. Fifty-seven percent shared concerns about skills development not keeping pace with technology advances, while 43% named recruiting and retaining skilled employees.
There’s a common theme of employee skills development, a challenge especially noteworthy in remote-first, asynchronous work environments. While many large enterprises have in-house learning management systems (LMS) for employee training, the modules tend to focus on daily processes rather than technical upskilling.
Increasingly, organizations are looking to outside vendors for technical support and employee skills development. We expect to see a greater investment in course certifications and off-site industry training to keep employee skills current.
A common concern is that employees don’t know what they don’t know, leading more executives to lean into outside consultants for best practices. We’re seeing a growing demand for digital transformation consulting, often done remotely through virtual teams.
User and Data Management
While companies with multiple locations don’t necessarily have large user lists, there is always an added element of complexity to their data management. Whether it’s a remote team of a few dozen or a multi-state corporation with hundreds of full-time employees, having multiple working locations often leads to an inconsistent user experience.
Even with standard operating procedures for secure login and data management, multiple sites invariably create an increased attack surface. Users are also more likely to use public Wi-Fi networks and personal devices when management is decentralized, and different working hours can create data synchronization issues when offline changes aren’t updated immediately.
Across all industries, 40.6% of our survey respondents at multi-site companies agreed that business operations and entrepreneurial thinking are among the most important skills for IT
professionals, significantly higher than hardware installation (17.6%) and computer programming (13.1%). A successful IT team needs to do more than manage user access. The systems and protocols they implement have to support the company’s larger business objectives.
The Future of Multi-Location IT
Looking ahead, multi-site companies are expanding their IT investments in 2024. All of the executives we surveyed plan to hire new in-house professionals (28.5%), outside vendors (42.9%), or a combination (28.6%).
If your company is growing and your IT isn’t keeping pace, talk to a strategic advisor. TenHats delivers enterprise-grade IT solutions to seamlessly manage networking, equipment, and users across multiple physical locations. Schedule a consultation to see how we can help you adapt, compete, and thrive.
