Now the post-holiday chaos has died down, it’s time to shake off your business’s computing cobwebs and get your IT sparkling.
With holiday chaos behind us and the financial year end on the horizon, it’s time to get your tech in order to face the rest of 2026. Here are 5 pointers to carry out your own SME tech spring clean…
1. Stay Phish-Aware
With tax season catching up to us, it pays to be on your guard for spoof “phishing” emails, messages, and phone calls claiming to be from legitimate entities.
Scammers create frighteningly believable-looking emails – claiming to be from trusted parties like HMRC, suppliers, banks, accounting platforms, and more – all hoping to dupe innocent businesses and individuals into paying up.
If you suspect an email, text message, or phone call to be fraudulent, close the window or hang up – don’t interact. Search for the organisation’s official website and use their listed contact details to verify the message’s contents directly.
2. Audit User Access & Permissions
Review all user accounts within your business software. Are there any old accounts from former staff members or contractors that need to be deleted? What shared folders are floating around, what’s in them, and who has access? Can they be deleted or access to them minimised?
This exercise is especially important for mission-critical platforms like your productivity (“office”) software and accounting tools.
And while we’re looking at access, look to enforce multi-factor authentication across all logins for added security.
3. Test Your Backups!
We all know that backups are essential. But when was the last time you tested the backups that you keep? If disaster strikes, you wouldn’t want to discover that an essential folder is missing or that your backups haven’t actually been running for the past 3 months.
So test your backups with real data: randomly select a handful of recent files, amended last week and last month. Verify that they’re fully accessible, can be retrieved successfully, and are a mirror image of the file in your “day-to-day” storage.
4. Say “No” to the Go-Slow
How well are your computers running? Are they causing any slowdown or bottlenecks in your team’s processes? After all, the more efficient your computers run, the more efficient you and your team can be!
If you’re limping along with slow, buggy machines or older software, then you’re probably due an upgrade. Speak with an IT provider like IT Made Simple – we’ll help assess your options in line with your needs and source business-grade tech that will stand the test of time.
5. Budget for Tech Success – Not for “Good Enough”
Making do with older tech and inexpensive software feels like a sound investment at the time… until it suddenly isn’t. I think we all know that IT emergencies have a habit of happening at the worst time!
So plan effective IT spending while your tech seas are calm, rather than subjecting yourself to the often-higher costs (and emotional turmoil) of emergency IT wrangling!
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If you’re unsure how to tackle any of these pointers, just give us a call or book a chat using the QR code below.
Chris Hodgkiss
IT Made Simple Ltd
it-madesimple.uk
Tel: 0121 822 86 86
www.steeryourbusiness.com/magazine/mar-apr-2026
