Cybersecurity
SMBs and IT Neglect: The Mistakes That Cost the Most
SMBs-and-IT-Neglect-Mistakes-That-Cost-the-Most by Todd Moss
I get it.
When you're running a small business, the last thing you want to do is drop everything to troubleshoot why the printer isn't connecting, why files are missing from your shared drive, or why your email keeps going to spam.
Tech problems feel like pebbles in your shoe. Not worth stopping for, until they cause a limp. And often, by the time they do, you're already paying the price—in downtime, lost productivity, or worse.
I've been supporting small businesses and nonprofits for over two decades. And what I've seen is this: most of the worst IT issues aren't about bad luck. They're about slow neglect. The kind that builds quietly over time, until it spills over all at once.
In this piece, I want to walk you through some of the IT patterns I see again and again—some clear, some hidden. Not to scare you. Not to sell you. But to help you get ahead of problems before they snowball. Because IT doesn't have to be a headache. When it's done right, it works like plumbing: invisible, essential, and totally unremarkable. Just the way it should be.
You're Not Too Small for Real IT
There’s a persistent myth that “real IT” is something you graduate into once your team hits a certain size. Until then, you’re expected to make do with improvised solutions and favors from your most tech-savvy colleague.
But risk doesn’t scale with headcount. You’re just as likely—sometimes more likely—to face major IT problems while your organization is still small and nimble. The systems aren’t in place yet. The processes are loose. And the stakes are high. One unpatched laptop, one accidental click on a phishing email, one expired domain name—these things can knock you off course in ways that are hard to recover from.
You don’t need enterprise infrastructure. But you do need clarity, and consistency. Even lightweight IT support, done proactively, can protect your operations and save you thousands in lost time, data, and trust.
The Risks of Tribal Tech Knowledge
In many SMBs, IT knowledge lives in one person’s head. Maybe it’s the office manager who figured out the wireless printer, or the junior developer who knows which vendor manages your email. Either way, there’s usually one person everyone turns to for tech problems.
That person is valuable. But they’re not scalable. And they’re not permanent.
When that person is unavailable—or leaves entirely—you’re suddenly scrambling to figure out passwords, server settings, vendor contracts, or backup locations. What looked like "everything’s working fine" quickly turns into "we have no idea how anything works."
This isn’t a knock on internal heroes. It’s a warning against overreliance. The more your systems depend on one individual, the more fragile your operations become. Build documentation. Share knowledge. Set up centralized systems. That’s not just good IT—it’s good business.
Putting Off the “Not Urgent” Fixes
There’s a hierarchy of urgency in business, and technology often lives at the bottom. If your email’s down, it’s an emergency. But if your firewall is three years out of date? That can wait.
Until it can’t.
Neglect tends to compound. A missed update today becomes an incompatibility tomorrow. A delayed upgrade becomes a vulnerability. Over time, the friction of old systems mounts, slowing down teams and creating points of failure.
This kind of creeping tech debt is one of the biggest drains I see in small orgs. And the frustrating thing? Fixing it is usually straightforward. It just requires time, which always feels in short supply. My advice? Carve out a few hours each quarter to look at the stuff that doesn’t feel urgent—but is. Your future self will thank you.
Cybersecurity Without the Drama
Security shouldn’t feel like a crisis—or a gimmick. But a lot of what’s written about it these days leans one way or the other.
The truth is simpler. Good cybersecurity is boring. It’s thoughtful. It’s consistent.
It means:
Making two-factor authentication standard, not optional.
Using password managers.
Segmenting access so not everyone is an admin.
Backing up data in a way that’s secure and recoverable.
And most importantly, it means training your team. Not in a fear-based way, but in a way that builds awareness. The more confident your people feel about spotting suspicious behavior, the fewer incidents you’ll deal with down the line.
Small businesses aren’t too small to be targets. In fact, attackers count on that assumption.
Backup and Recovery: The Silent Safety Net
No one wants to think about worst-case scenarios. But disaster recovery isn’t about paranoia—it’s about resilience.
I’ve seen businesses lose everything due to a bad sync, a corrupted drive, or a ransomware lockout. And I’ve seen businesses calmly restore their systems in under an hour because they had backups that worked.
Here’s the key: not all backups are created equal.
Storing files in Dropbox or Google Drive isn’t enough. You need:
Regular backups that include all critical systems, not just files.
Redundancy—both onsite and offsite/cloud.
A clear, tested recovery plan.
It’s not enough to have a backup. You need to know it works. Schedule a quarterly test restore. Practice the steps. Make sure the right people have access. It doesn’t take long—and it could save your business.
Vendor-Led Chaos
You probably didn’t start your business to become a software integration expert. So when vendors promise you all-in-one solutions or revolutionary platforms, it’s tempting to say yes.
But “best-in-class” doesn’t mean “best-for-you.”
Letting vendors drive your IT strategy often leads to disjointed tools, overlapping licenses, and costly workarounds. It’s hard to take a step back when you’re juggling ten different logins and trying to remember who manages your domain.
That’s why one of the most powerful things you can do is pause and evaluate:
What tools do we actually use?
Are there redundancies?
What’s costing more than it’s saving?
Do we have a unified view of our systems?
Sometimes, cleaning up your tech stack is more valuable than adding to it.
The Trap of Tactical Thinking
It’s easy to make tech decisions in the moment: a new hire needs a laptop, a department asks for new software, a client demands a secure file-sharing system.
And you should respond quickly. But not only quickly.
Strategic IT looks beyond the next quarter. It considers how systems scale, how they integrate, and whether they create leverage or lock-in.
Think about how your choices today affect your options tomorrow. Will this tool support a team of 10? Of 50? Can we migrate if needed? How will training and onboarding look six months from now?
Short-term fixes are fine. But they shouldn’t be the only type of solution you pursue. Every once in a while, lift your head up and ask: where are we headed?
Emotional Infrastructure
Here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: IT problems are emotional.
They create friction. Frustration. Insecurity. They make your team feel like things are unstable, even when everything else is running smoothly.
That’s why people-first support matters. It’s not just about solving tickets. It’s about responding with clarity. It’s about being available. It’s about reassuring people that they’re not alone when something goes wrong.
When your team feels supported, they work better. When they trust the systems they use, they take initiative. And when your infrastructure works quietly in the background, people get to focus on what they do best.
That’s what good IT does. It gets out of the way.
About 24hourtek
24hourtek, Inc is a forward thinking managed service provider that offers ongoing IT support and strategic guidance to businesses. We meet with our clients at least once a month to review strategy, security posture, and provide guidance on future-proofing your IT.
If this sounds familiar, we’re happy to help. We’ll walk you through an assessment, help prioritize based on risk and budget, and build a refresh strategy that makes sense—no upselling, just honest advice.
Feel free to reach out!