Your biotech startup has an endless list of things to keep in mind as you build out your company and pursue your essential work. It is critical to stay away from potential missteps that can create unnecessary challenges or waste valuable dollars down the road. Here are three common IT oversights for your biotech startup to avoid.
Do not buy additional services through your domain registrar
Once you establish your company name, an ideal next step is to purchase your domain name from a domain registrar to secure it for two or more years. You may also want to consider buying relevant variants of the domain name for brand protection. However, domain registrars will often encourage you to purchase additional services from them, such as email or marketing tools.
If you buy these services through the domain registrar, you usually must manage the service through the registrar. As a result, your ability to use the service’s features may be limited, and you may have to buy any additional services and plugins through the domain registrar as well. Migrating out of this situation can incur significant and unnecessary expenses.
Instead of buying services from a domain registrar, Data Evolution recommends the following options:
- If you have or want an IT service partner, ask them to help you set up and secure all the tools and services you need the right way.
- If you are not ready to engage with an IT service partner, figure out which tools and services you need, then purchase them directly from your provider of choice.
It is always best to engage with an IT service partner as soon as possible. For example, an experienced partner like Data Evolution can be your one-stop shop for any managed IT, support, and business services and solutions. Contact us about customizing a scalable solution that fits your company’s needs both now and as you grow.
Do not use personal online file storage systems
When your company is in its early stages, it may seem easier to share and store files using, for example, a personal Dropbox account. However, once you start adding more people to your team and sharing larger volumes of data, this seemingly simple solution can quickly turn into a mess.
Starting with a personal online file storage system can result in your personal data getting mixed up with work data and vice versa, which is especially problematic for companies dealing with sensitive information, such as those in the biotech and life sciences vertical.
This oversight can end up costing you a significant amount for two major reasons. First, migrating to a different system later can become expensive, depending on how much data has already been shared or how complicated or mixed-up your files have become. Second, the price of losing data or experiencing a breach due to disorganization or low security can be steep as well.
Instead of using a personal online file storage system, Data Evolution recommends buying a dedicated system for company data right away. While it can seem inconvenient at the beginning, this strategy is much cleaner and provides the ability to scale within the system or migrate to a different system more easily.
Do not direct new employees to use or set up their own computers
Startups often begin with a handful of people in consulting roles that will use personal devices or devices owned and managed by another organization. In these early stages, the focus is on starting to move the company forward and possibly raising a first big round of funding.
Once funding is achieved and it is time to start hiring full-time employees, one critical expense that should not be overlooked is investing in company-owned computers. Though personal technology usage may be necessary in a seed funding stage, it is always better to avoid using personal technology for business work. In fact, some investors require their seed funded companies to acquire dedicated business technology to avoid future complications and expenses.
Allowing employees to use their own technology can result in a complicated jumble of hardware with no consistency. Even having employees buy dedicated work technology on their own can complicate matters because most stores will provide home operating systems instead of corporate systems. Upgrading and standardizing later can become very expensive.
The best solution is to partner with an IT service provider who can ensure each new employee is integrated into a standard professional operating system with managed security, email services, and more. If you are not ready to work with an IT partner, you should at least invest in standardizing your operating systems with company-owned computers.
These three IT oversights are common ways for biotech startups to set themselves up for expensive migrations in the future. While you may be hesitant to invest in avoiding these missteps, remember that you are investing in yourself! Your work is important and necessary, so do yourself the service of starting up the right way.
Are you interested in learning more? Check out our resource on what a newly-launched biotech needs to get started or get in touch with your experts at Data Evolution to start a discussion about your unique circumstances and needs.