As a business owner or key member in your business, it is essential to maintain a knowledge of what assets and liabilities you have within your business. As of today, you may consider your server an asset, but without the proper updates, your server could become a massive liability.
While your Windows Server 2003 machine will not simply stop working come mid-July, you may be opening your business up to a plethora of compliance violations and security threats. For anyone who remembers Windows XP, even though all support and updates from Microsoft have been discontinued for nearly a year – it STILL has nearly 20% of the desktop operating system market.
So what does the end of Windows Server 2003 (W2K3) mean for you and your business? Here are three major reasons you should show your Server 2003 machine the door as soon as possible.
- Security and Compliance
Once the security patches are discontinued, any known or currently undiscovered flaws in W2K3 will remain flaws indefinitely. Even if you think that your business is not at risk because you are just a small business and hackers would never target you, you are dead wrong.
If you think that the risk of any flaws that have either not been fixed or discovered is low, think again – Microsoft issued 37 critical updates in 2013. Moreover, if your business is governed by regulations such as HIPAA or other compliance standards, using obsolete software almost certainly means that you’re no longer compliant with their requirements.
- Third-Party Support
Have any third-party hardware or software running on outdated servers or planning on getting anything new? Once Microsoft stops supporting W2K3, most every other hardware and software vendors will follow suit – assuming they haven’t already.
- Performance and Productivity
W2K3 is nearly a dozen years old, and technology has come such a long way since it was released. Just imagine if you were still using a cell phone from 12 years ago… bye bye iPhone and Android – hello flip phone.
Some of the limitations of such outdated hardware and software includes extremely degraded performance resulting in poor productivity of employees. If you’re waiting for your technology to catch up to you, it’s time to upgrade your systems and see what 2015 has to offer.
Impact will be hosting a seminar on this subject on Thursday, March 26. Click to learn more.
By Justin Kelly: Owner & President of IMPACT Technology Group
Justin Kelley is the Owner and President of IMPACT Technology Group. He has been serving Delmarva businesses as their outsourced IT
professional for over 10 years. He, along with his staff of experienced professionals, focus on the customer and take pride in their ability to speak
to the customer without the typical “geek speak” that people expect from their IT provider.
