3 (un)structured cabling nightmares (and how to avoid them)

The cabling infrastructure in your office can have a big impact on everything from productivity to business continuity. In spite of this, many businesses still decide to take a DIY approach to their cabling needs. What could go wrong, right?

Not exactly.

A great many things can go wrong as a result of an unstructured, unplanned approach to network cabling in your office. Here are 3 cabling nightmares and a few tips on how to avoid those nightmares.

Unlabeled switches create downtime ditches

Is your network labeled? If not, you’ve got the recipe for a cabling nightmare that can really harm your bottom line. You’re essentially in a ticking time bomb situation waiting for downtime to strike.

Not knowing what connects where within your network means you won’t know where to start troubleshooting when problems arise. Considering that downtime costs the average SMB up to $427 per minute, it’s not a good idea to skip the labeling.

The solution

Take the time to label all your switches and connection points, so you know what connects where and how. That way, when the phones go down in the back office, you know exactly where to look first. Time is money, so save yourself some.

And if you don’t have time to handle it yourself, well, that’s among the greatest reason’s people depend on a Managed Service Provider to handle their business IT. Because you’d rather be focusing on your business mission, not fumbling with technology problems.

Poor bundling will send you tumbling

Bundling might look straightforward on the surface, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you’ve got cabling all over the floors, or your server is a mess of jumbled wires, you’re setting yourself up for failure. It can even become a tripping and fire hazard.

The solution:

No one likes a visual mess. And chances are, if your network is visually messy, it’s performing messy, too. Bundling is a professional skill, but if you really want to do it yourself, you need to take an organized approach that keeps your cables untwisted and out of the way.

At a minimum, an IT provider can get your cables and wires bundled up properly, so consider reaching out to one to get your cables in shape.

Bad configuration is a cabling abomination

Bottlenecks and black spots. That’s what you need to know. When your network configuration is off or patched together poorly, chances are you’ve got major data bottlenecks happening at one or more spots in your network.

Which means you’re losing productivity that you might not even have considered. Slow systems, slow computers, slow internet… These are only a few of the problems unprofessional configuration can cause.

The solution:

Chances are, even if your in-house IT guy is pretty good at his job, he has plenty on his plate besides configuring servers and putting together networks.

A qualified IT provider spends time on multiple cabling projects every week. Which means, they’ve got the right experience to know where bottlenecks and other issues tend to happen.

By engaging with an MSP for your cabling and bundling needs, you guarantee that your configuration is set to smooth automation.

Time to wake up?

If this all sounds like a lot, it’s because it probably is. Your cabling infrastructure is the platform your technology operates from, so why not make sure it’s done right? We’d love to talk it over with you. It could mean the difference in your dream network and nightmare performance.