Could Supply Chain Bottlenecks in the IT Sector Continue Beyond 2022?

Supply chain shortages have had a major impact on the IT sector. Halfway through 2022, the questions remain: What does the future look like and what can you do in the meantime to prepare for that future?

It wasn’t so long ago that few outside the shipping and manufacturing industries were familiar with the term “supply chain.” In the last two years, however, it’s become an increasingly important element of the common vernacular — and not because the supply chain is working so well. It’s because the developed world continues to face supply and demand issues that are having a huge impact across industries, including in the IT sector.

Nowadays, the supply chain is far too immense and interconnected to be immune to shocks — and the last couple of years have seen more than their fair share of bumps in the road. From the COVID pandemic and the shifts in spending that it brought, to the new and ongoing war in Ukraine, it’s unsurprising that the global supply chain has been rattled.

Understandably, many IT customers are becoming increasingly frustrated in the face of ongoing delays, frequently changing timelines, and seemingly endless uncertainty. Luckily, things are not as hopeless as they may seem. While much is out of one’s control when it comes to current supply chain bottlenecks, the current situation will eventually be resolved — even if that’s unlikely to happen before 2023.

No matter how long it takes to return to a state of “normal,” the present situation offers a unique opportunity for organizations looking to hit the ground running when it comes to their IT infrastructure. But before we begin planning for the future, it’s important to first understand the current status of the supply chain.

What to Expect in the Short-Term When it Comes to the Supply Chain

The good news is that current supply chain hiccups aren’t expected to get any worse. The bad news is that it’s going to take a while before it gets meaningfully better. While there were hopes that the shortage might abate in early 2022 as the pandemic became somewhat more contained, new events, like the war in Ukraine and renewed COVID-related shutdowns in China, created new bottlenecks that interfered with a return to normalcy. The result is that the majority of equipment manufacturing organizations expect most supply chain issues to continue deep into 2023.

Until then, we’re going to have to adjust to a new normal — one that assumes uncertainty instead of reliability when it comes to projects affected by supply chain disruptions. We will also likely see prices increasing across sectors as the microprocessing/semiconductor industry — which is at the heart of the supply chain bottleneck — is forecasted to suffer a 10% increase in overall prices. These costs will be sent to consumers and end-users even once the supply chain is strengthened.

Although that news may seem bleak, it’s not all bad. Many companies, including Amazon and Intel, are taking steps to address the current supply chain issues and to help ensure we are more resilient in the face of similar crises in the future. Expanding warehousing space at a rapid pace to create a smoother shipping model and investing billions of dollars in U.S. chipmaking are just two of the ways improvements are being made. Of course, it’ll take some time before those investments take shape, but there’s no doubt things are moving in the right direction.

What Organizations Can Do to Strengthen IT Infrastructure in 2022

Huge corporations aren’t the only ones who can invest now to make themselves more resilient in the future. Smaller organizations across industries also have a unique opportunity to take steps to strengthen their IT infrastructure for both today and tomorrow, even in the face of global supply chain bottlenecks.

Here are a few projects and upgrades that you can prioritize while waiting for the supply chain to return to normal:

• Cybersecurity Audits: Bad actors are constantly looking for easy vulnerabilities. A cybersecurity audit lets you identify and address any potential weaknesses before a bad actor does. Many of these upgrades can be made with software alone, meaning you can address issues right away without having to wait on new hardware.
• Wireless Networking Improvements: Too often when organizations set up their wireless networks, they don’t perform the necessary due diligence to ensure their network is successful. Now is a great time to do that work, even if you already have your access points (APs) installed. You can take time now to determine the optimal positions for your APs. To do that, you need to consider points of use, planned usage, your facility’s physical restrictions, signal strength, and more. While this process takes time, it can prove transformative when it comes to WiFi availability — and it doesn’t require any new hardware that could be affected by supply chain bottlenecks.
• Managed Services Adoption: Managed services offer a great way to simplify your life by reducing personal overhead (and, in turn, reducing the impact of the ongoing IT skills shortage) while consolidating service provider contracts under a single roof. Now is a great time to consider whether managed services may be right for your organization. A qualified IT partner, like Turn-key Technologies, Inc. (TTI), will work with you every step of the way, whether you’re looking to strengthen cybersecurity, embrace As-a-Service, or simply replace your internal IT team with a qualified team that’s available 24/7 to keep your network up and running.

Strengthen Your IT Infrastructure Today

Just because there’s a global supply chain disruption, that doesn’t mean you have to put all your IT infrastructure improvement projects on hold. Now is a great time to do the work that often gets overlooked in the face of shiny new devices and which can save you both time and money in the long run.

At Turn-key Technologies, Inc. (TTI) we can help you with everything from firewall assessments to site and cybersecurity audits and more while your larger-scale hardware updates are on hold. We are managed services providers with decades of experience helping organizations of all sizes across industries strengthen their IT infrastructure. We can take care of the heavy lifting for you, performing regular updates, upgrades, and audits to your systems and software while keeping a close eye on supply chain factors that could impact your needs so you can focus on what lies ahead.

Contact us today to learn how TTI can help you plan ahead and strengthen your IT infrastructure today!