Preparing Business IT Infrastructure for the Christmas Period
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — time for enjoying the holidays while balancing the hustle and bustle the Christmas period brings for business.
But for hospitality, care, or retail businesses, the Christmas season presents unique challenges. While customer demand in many industries skyrockets, businesses are often short-staffed, and IT helplines are closed. If your IT systems face issues, it can be difficult to remedy them promptly, meaning missing out on valuable Christmas sales.
This year, we have put together a checklist to help you prepare for the holiday influx. From testing your PDQ devices to updating your seasonal voice messages, follow the checklist below to ensure this festive season passes without a hitch.
Our Christmas IT Checklist
Test your phones: Make sure your customers can contact you by making an inbound and outbound call. If you’d like to update your telecoms systems with a seasonal greeting, let your doetaylor contact know now, and we can update voice messages or routing.
Test PDQ devices: Make sure your card machines work by completing a test transaction on each PDQ. Some businesses bring out extra machines to meet holiday demand, so ensure you perform a test transaction on every device you use.
Check receipt printers & till roll: Make sure all your receipt printers are working by placing a test transaction, and double check your supplies of till roll are sufficient. If you need to stock up for the Christmas gift receipt rush, place your order well to ensure it arrives in time for the holidays.
Test all handhelds are online: Check your devices' connectivity by putting through a test order. Don’t just trust what it says on the screen! Ensure everything is connected and working as it should be by running through your workflow.
Check kitchen connectivity: For restaurants and hospitality businesses, ensure your payment and kitchen systems are seamlessly connected. Test any kitchen printers and screens to ensure orders reach the kitchen and bar and that seasonal menu items are listed and priced correctly.
Perform back-office checks: Make sure that any back-office machines are online and functioning as expected, and ensure that any seasonal products have been created, loaded into systems, and are ready to use.
Double-check WiFi: Check you can connect to your staff and customer WiFi, and check that passwords are updated and correct if you display them around your premises.
Check email account access: Make sure you’re prepared for that influx of email bookings. Let doetaylor know if any password resets, account activations or deactivations are required, and make sure that your website, booking page, or landing page links directly to your email or reservation system. This is especially important if you plan on running seasonal promotions.
Check CCTV access: Keep everyone safe around the holiday season by ensuring that your CCTV is switched on and all cameras are viewable.
Test your printer: Test your office printer from an office PC or laptop and make sure that you are stocked up with ink and paper if you use your printer regularly.
Prepare your team: Hiring temporary staff to cover the Christmas rush? Help them get acquainted with your IT systems ahead of time by scheduling and planning a training day.
On the day: Implement a strict daily charging rota to make sure all devices are charged and ready to go!
Customised Support from doetaylor
The hallmark of a well-run IT system is one which requires minimal thought and which works seamlessly. However, managing well-oiled IT infrastructure requires regular time for preparation and maintenance and a team of trained staff and consultants to give you a hand when your business needs.
That’s where doetaylor comes in – one of the UK’s leading IT support providers for small to medium businesses. Our team of experts help you keep your IT systems running perfectly, meaning you can return to doing what you do best: serving your customers.
Whether you have doetaylor on hand already or are looking for IT support that allows your business to operate seamlessly this Christmas season, contact us now and discover how our team can help.