10 Everyday IT Problems That Are Wasting Your Employees’ Time

 

 

 

Most businesses rely on technology for pretty much everything these days. When it’s working properly, you barely give it a second thought. When it isn’t, everyone knows about it! 

 

The problem is, it’s not always the big IT disasters that cost businesses time. Often, it’s all those little everyday annoyances that employees simply learn to put up with. Five minutes waiting for a computer to start, ten minutes trying to connect to the Wi-Fi or another five minutes persuading the printer that, yes, you really would like it to print something. 

It might not seem much at the time, but multiply that across your team, every week of the year, and that’s a lot of working time being wasted. 

So, how many of these everyday office IT problems sound familiar? 

 

Every office seems to have one. You switch it on, make a cup of tea, check your phone, have a chat with someone…and eventually it’s ready to go. 

If your employees are regularly waiting for their computers to catch up with them, there could be several reasons why. The computer might be getting old, it could be running out of storage or memory, or there could simply be too much going on in the background. 

The good news is you don’t necessarily need to rush out and buy a new one. Sometimes a service or upgrade can make a big difference. However, if it genuinely is past its best, replacing it before it completely gives up can save a lot of hassle and downtime. 

 

The Wi-Fi works brilliantly at your desk. You walk into the meeting room and suddenly…nothing. Move three feet to the left and you might be lucky enough to get one bar! 

If your employees know exactly where they need to stand to get a decent Wi-Fi signal, something probably needs looking at. Poor business Wi-Fi can make video calls difficult, slow down cloud-based systems and generally frustrate everyone trying to get on with their work. 

 

It could be down to the position of your access points, the layout or construction of the building, older equipment or simply having more devices connected than your network was originally designed to cope with. Rather than accepting that “the Wi-Fi is just rubbish in that room”, it’s worth finding out why. 

 

“Printer: Offline.” But it’s right there, it’s switched on, and it has paper. So why won't it print? 

Office printers seem to have an amazing ability to stop working at exactly the moment somebody urgently needs something. Network issues, drivers, software updates and configuration problems can all be responsible. 

If half the office regularly gets involved in trying to persuade the printer to work, it might be more efficient to fix the underlying problem rather than relying on someone giving it a stern talking-to! 

 

Closely followed by “I haven't changed it!” and then, five minutes later, “Oh…maybe I did.” 

Password problems are an everyday frustration, but there’s also a serious side to them. Using easy-to-remember passwords, sharing passwords with colleagues or keeping them on a Post-it note stuck to the monitor might be convenient, but it isn't great for your cybersecurity. 

A better approach to password management, along with multi-factor authentication (MFA), can help make your business more secure without making logging in a daily battle. 

 

You’re halfway through an important Teams or Zoom meeting when suddenly someone freezes in a particularly unflattering position. Then comes the inevitable “Can you hear me?”, “You’re breaking up” and “Try turning your camera off.” 

Occasional video call problems happen to everyone, but if they’re becoming a regular part of your working day, it’s worth investigating. Your Wi-Fi, internet connection, network, computer or software could all be contributing to the problem. 

Your team should be concentrating on the meeting, not spending the first ten minutes trying to work out who can hear whom. 

 

If the solution to a software problem in your office has become “Just close it and open it again”, you might want to investigate a little further! 

Software can crash for all sorts of reasons, from compatibility problems and outdated programs to insufficient computer resources or underlying hardware issues. Restarting might get things going again temporarily, but if employees are doing this several times a day, that lost time soon adds up. 

Finding and fixing the actual cause can save a lot of frustration - and potentially a lot of lost work. 

 

“It’s in the shared folder.” Which shared folder? “You know…the shared one.” Helpful. And then, when you finally find it, somebody discovers they can’t access it anyway. 

Whether you use a server, network drives or cloud storage, your employees need to be able to find and access the files they need without turning it into an office treasure hunt. 

Network problems, permissions and poorly organised systems can all cause issues. A properly set-up file system can make things much easier while also ensuring people only have access to the information they’re supposed to see. 

 

Big presentation in five minutes? Naturally, that's the perfect moment for your computer to announce: “Installing updates. Please do not turn off your computer.” 

Updates are important. They fix bugs, improve software and, crucially, address security vulnerabilities. But they’re considerably less annoying when they’re properly managed rather than appearing at the worst possible moment. 

For businesses with several computers, having a planned approach to updates and IT maintenance can help keep everything secure and running smoothly with less disruption to the working day. 

 

There are few things guaranteed to get an office talking faster than someone announcing, “Is anyone else's email down?” 

Emails not sending, Outlook refusing to load, mailboxes reaching capacity or messages mysteriously disappearing can quickly disrupt the working day. And then there’s the bigger issue of email security. 

Phishing messages, suspicious attachments and fake login pages remain a risk to businesses, so good email security is about more than simply making sure messages arrive. If something doesn't look right, it’s always better to check before clicking. 

 

We’ve all done it. “Your disk is almost full.” You ignore it, but a week later, the warning appears again. Ignore it again, and then the computer starts slowing down, and suddenly that little message seems rather more important. 

 

A computer that's running out of storage can struggle with programs, files and updates. Sometimes a straightforward clean-up will solve the problem. Other times, you may need more storage or a better way of managing where your business files are being saved. 

Whatever you do, randomly deleting things and hoping they weren't important probably isn't the best plan! 

 

None of these problems sounds particularly dramatic on their own but imagine five employees each losing just ten minutes a day because of slow computers, Wi-Fi problems, software issues or trying to locate files. 

That’s 50 minutes of working time every day and more than four hours over a five-day week – and that’s before anything breaks. 

Good business IT support isn't just about being there when a computer completely gives up. It's also about spotting and fixing all those little problems that are quietly making everyone's working day more difficult. 

 

If your office regularly features cries of “Why isn't this working?”, “Can anyone get on the Wi-Fi?” or the classic “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”, it might be time to give Counter-Act Systems a call. 

 

We provide straightforward, practical business IT support, helping businesses with everything from slow computers and unreliable Wi-Fi to networks, backups, cybersecurity, hardware and those mysterious IT problems nobody can quite explain. 

 

After all, your employees have their own jobs to do. They shouldn't have to become the office IT department as well! 

Need help getting your business IT working properly?  

 

Get in touch with Counter-Act Systems.