Category: Technology

How Businesses Continually Fail In Their SEO Strategy

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. With so much business being conducted online today, it’s critical for business owners to have some understanding of “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) to maximize their marketing and visibility. The following contributed post is entitled, How Businesses Continually Fail In Their SEO Strategy.

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SEO is the lynchpin by which every important content strategy is developed in 2019, and you can be sure that while seismic shifts in this marketing pattern may occur over the next ten years, its relevance will rarely fall short. That being said, while SEO is a common practice, it can also be ineffective if not practised correctly. While the stakes may not be as high as an advertising campaign causing deep offense and becoming a nightmare for your PR department, there are measures you could take to help you move forward.

However, like any fine-tuned practice, it’s very possible to get SEO more than wrong. This is why even if using the best service such as those provided by Gotch SEO, it’s still important to note what separates good SEO from bad SEO, and what you should be expecting from the use of an expert service.

Thankfully, while there’s a reason specialized services exist to fill this function (and many practitioners of firms such as this can make it look easy), SEO is not deep and intense rocket science. With the following advice, we’ll help you avoid common pitfalls:

Poor Content

Many SEO strategies are delivered through infographics, blogger outreach services, and content creation. Many SEO firms will ally themselves with worthwhile blogs that are independently maintained, allowing for your search terms to be wrapped in worthwhile content that both confidently describes and refers back to your services within a wider context. However, if the content is poorly written, incorrectly backlinked, or over-present within a certain blog, Google algorithms can often penalize said strategy for that, leaving a negative taste in any worthwhile SEO strategy output.

Missed Linking

Missed linking can also be important to consider. If a piece of content fails to link back to a worthwhile landing page, you may lose the potential lead there. If there are too many links to other services or competitive services, you may also lose out. Negative SEO practice and linking approaches can often be found via businesses that continually try to appease their own SEO approach without taking part in the diligent research, and this can lead to somewhat difficult results. Additionally, allowing your linked anchor text to fit within the flow of the context you order is important for writers who will attend to each piece.

Oversaturation

Once a company learns that they can achieve the best SEO practice and potentially deliver a subtle, more relevant, often quite seamless marketing strategy to their potential new customers at a fraction of the cost of bold and extensive campaigns, they are liable to try and use multiple services, continually, in order to saturate content houses with their name. But it’s important not to do this. Using one service, to the best of your ability, you may find that SEO is best when being applied to a real end, such as a promotion, or a new deal, or in order to get your name out there in the first place.

With this advice, you’re sure to continually refine your SEO strategy, and to avoid the common pitfalls that may occur.

Online Resources And Why We Need Them

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Technology. So much of our lives today are lived online. While the digital world has made our lives easier, it’s created some other complexities and caveats as well. The following contributed post is entitled, Online Resources And Why We Need Them.

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Let’s face it most of our lives are played out online when it comes to communication and gathering information. We look at Google to answer any question, we watch YouTube for entertainment and education, and also listen to podcasts in the car whilst we are driving around. Even the music is streamed these days and is not actually owned or downloaded. But why is this important? And are we at an advantage because of it? We may think the answer to this is yes. But there are many scenarios where the answer to that is questionable. So why do we rely on the Internet so much?

Photo by Mia Baker on Unsplash

Ease
If you look at history, and the reasons that we have evolved in many ways, you will think that we have made fantastic strides in technology and other areas. But curiosity aside, one of the main reasons that we are advancing all the time, it’s because it’s so much easier. We now pick up the phone or laptop (same thing) and do a quick search online to find their answers. This is, of course, much faster than the way in which we found our information previously. Books written by professionals can now be searched online, the latest online course review and even news articles, are now commonplace online. The only problem with this is that generally speaking, the information on the Internet can be incorrect. And even though websites such as Wikipedia can be amended by anybody, there are plenty of people looking at sites to check accuracy. The trick to using the Internet successfully is defined more than one resource And make sure that you find references to back up the information.

Sociable
Humans are sociable, that’s a fact. We rely on each other to get ahead in life. We have friends and family and work colleagues that always help us along the way. We are team players, which means that the Internet opens a whole world of communication with us. The great thing about this is that we have a support network at the touch of a button. We can make new friends quickly. And we can ask for opinions whilst we’re sat on our sofa, and gain feedback within minutes. Of course, this is also the downside, because as quickly as we can access people that support us and speak to family and friends with ease. We can also find those less supportive people and those who are only looking to upset others.

Recording
There are many different social networking sites, photo sharing, and sites such as Pinterest, which we all love to use, we really enjoy record in our lives, and sharing that with other people again it’s because with sociable, and that’s a huge resource to us. We can also tie in our business endeavors with this, and use these as avenues of marketing as well, and many people do.

Whichever resources you use online, and for whatever purpose use them for, there is no denying that everybody is in the same boat. Where are using the Internet as a tool for day-to-day life, and it doesn’t look about to change any time soon.

Computer Network Security Tips

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Pretty much every business today uses some sort of computer network. As such the security of your network is absolutely critical. The following contributed post is entitled, Computer Network Security Tips.

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Most companies have a computer network that is shared amongst employees to offer helpful collaboration and access to important files. When planning to open a business or make changes to a current one, the network should be a focus of your interest.

Today we want to take a look at computer networks and think about helpful tips you can use for effective working as a business. Whether you filter out spam, use Managed Services or restrict access to your network, there are many ways to ensure the safety of your data.

Seal the doors

The most crucial thing to think about in terms of your network is the entry point. Think of your network as a house. The easiest way for a hacker to gain entry to your network is through the doors and windows, and this is the first thing you need to protect. Make sure to explore your network and find any weaknesses or entry points that could be used by hackers. Once you have identified these areas you can fix them and make them stronger.

Think on a device basis

When thinking about the safety of your network, it is important for you to consider every device that houses a gateway to the network. If you have a large business, there will likely be many computers and laptops that have access to the network. Weaknesses can lie in every device and a hacker might take advantage of a singular device. This is why you should install antivirus software on every single device that has access to the network. This will provide a protective cushion and ensure the safety of your network.

Eradicate spam

Spam emails seem to be the norm these days. Since the early 2000’s people have tried to scam others by sending emails with the deception of being from someone else. Of course, as technology has advanced and we have become more savvy, hackers have also increased their ability. This is why it is important for you to filter spam and create blocks and rules for any and all emails that aren’t from a known source. As a business it is also important to educate staff, especially older staff, to not click on links or open attachments they don’t recognise.

Passwords

A good password is one of the best weapons you can have when it comes to security. If your aim is to keep the business safe and the network secure, it is crucial for you to choose strong passwords and ensure that everyone in your company does the same. A strong password should contain letters, numbers and special characters. For extra support, make sure that your workers change their password every 3 months to reduce the risk of them being hacked.

Restrict Full Access

Did you know you can change the access each individual has to your network? If you have a network that shares files such as invoices and employee information, it is a good idea to restrict certain parts of the network to only allow authorised personnel. This is a good way to keep your network safe and always ensure that data stays in safe hands.

Top Tips For Creating A Good Social Media Presence As A Small Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. It’s a much different world than it was 20 years ago. Social media permeates everything in 2019 and everyone is using it. As such, you must effectively do business there. The following contributed post is entitled, Top Tips For Creating A Good Social Media Presence As A Small Business.

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It’s apparent now that social media is here to stay and it is quickly becoming apparent that to succeed as any business you need to be able to show that you have a good online presence on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Just because it’s now becoming a necessity to have an excellent online presence, doesn’t mean that you will already have your plan of action when it comes to the steps you need to have in place to succeed.

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There is still plenty of time and ways that you can optimize your social media presence and with so many benefits it’s bound to be worth the time and effort. Have a look below at some of the ways you can create a good social media presence as a small business:

Look At The Networks

With so many social media platforms available it can be really hard to know which ones are the best option for your business. You should try to think about the platforms that your customers are most likely to be using or start with the four most popular. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and, Pinterest. Maintaining and creating content for each of these platforms can at times, be very time consuming and it has been known to take up almost the hours of a full-time member of staff. As it’s imperative to succeding online to be regularly seen and provide a constant flow of content it might be an idea to use outsourcing to help get you started and to maintain your accounts. By outsourcing for things such as social media videos productions you are freeing u your time for focus on areas such as your goals and strategy.

Goals Are Good

There are a number of benefits for a business that is active on social media, and there are several things you can achieve purely from having a social media presence such as being able to provide a second to none level of customer service. Not only this you’re able to engage with your customers, learn about them, expand your audiences and gain valuable insights and feedback about your products or services. In order to achieve any of this though you need to make sure you are setting goals. Think about what you want to achieve from using social media and how you’re going to get there. Think about areas such as whether you’re going to consider hosting a blog, are you going to share reviews of your products or are you planning on using influencers to promote your products?

Create A Solid Strategy

Having that plan for improving your online social media presence is all good and well but in order to achieve it you need to make sure you have a solid strategy in place. Once you have your goal you need to make sure you are putting a plan into place to help you reach it. You should start off by deciding who and how you’re going to manage the social media accounts and then set clear guidelines across each platform to make sure they are united in the flow and appearance of your business. Once you have this inplace you need to think about the content you are going to include and the frequency you plan to post, once you’ve decided this then you should try sticking to it for a while so you can monitor your engagement success.

Do you have any other tips for helping to create a good social media presence? Please share your top tips in the comments section below.

Taking Responsibility For Your Company Data

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. A major part of running your business in the modern age is managing its data. The inability to properly manage your company’s data will cost you both time and money. The following contributed post is entitled, Taking Responsibility For Your Company Data.

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Whatever your line of business, when you put the time and effort in, it becomes of value to you. It is an investment into your companies goals and as such, should be treated with the same level of care that you would treat any other investment.

This is very true of your companies digital history. Everything that you make, every document or spreadsheet is there for a purpose. It was created in an attempt to drive your business forward and as such it holds an intrinsic value.

But, data is so transitory. You can send it, move it, delete it. You could find that accidentally end up overwriting important files quite easily. Your important customer data could get corrupted by a virus, and be unopenable. Your information may get stolen, or your hard drive could completely die and you will be left with nothing.

In this day and age, losing data is like losing all of your money. If you are holding onto customer information that could put them at risk, you may be liable and end up paying some hefty fines for not properly managing your data protection. If the information is completely gone, you may not have a customer database to work from or projects that have taken many hours of work could be lost.

Retrieving Lost Data

There are a number of ways forward when you hit this situation. The first thing to consider doing is to bring in a specialist who can deal with backup & disaster recovery. There are occasions where information can be restored. It may be helpful to utilize the services of a managed IT service provider to look after your data needs. That way, when the worst happens, you will always have their support on hand.

Implementing Better Systems

One of the best ways is to avoid this kind of situation altogether. By utilizing a system where your data cannot even be lost completely, you will be protecting your business from catastrophe. Cloud-based systems offer this exact thing. Your data is saved in realtime as you create it. It is not stored physically on any of your devices and can be accessed anywhere as long as you can log in. You can choose to share your documents with others, and you won’t need to email them copies. Any changes that you ever make will be visible at their end.

Using systems such as these not only protect your data, they make the handling and management of it far easier. You will have a much more streamlined and efficient office when it comes to using cloud-based systems.

Manage Your Permissions

Be sure and devote some time to getting your permissions and access levels set up correctly on all of your important files and folders. While you can share editing functions across an entire team, you may not want some of your staff to be able to do this. Having the correct settings in place will also protect your data from those within your organization.

Three Undeniable Benefits of Adopting AI-Powered Business Technology

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is steadily growing. Numerous businesses are incorporating it as it has the potential to make operations more efficient and profitable. The following contributed post is entitled, Three Undeniable Benefits of Adopting AI-Powered Business Technology.

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Whether your startup is the new kid on the block or you’re already a fully-fledged business, staying informed of the latest advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is crucial if you wish to remain viable within your competitive industry and the ever-changing market as a whole.

Of course, embracing the latest technology in our lives does come at a cost. That said, there are tremendous benefits on offer, especially in the world of business, as long as we understand how to use technology without becoming dependent on it. Leveraging new developments in AI technology for business is a great way to streamline laborious processes and boost the productivity of your growing operation. Adopting new AI technology is also one of the primary ways to announce to the market at large that your business embraces innovation and change.

If you’re on the fence about adopting emerging technologies in the world of AI, this list of benefits for implementing the latest AI innovations could encourage you build AI into your business processes.

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AI-powered Cyber Security

If your startup isn’t investing in advanced cyber security, your data is exposed to threat. This not only risks your customers’ safety, but also puts the reputation of your business on the line. (These days, there’s nothing as bad for business as a data breach!) One of the biggest growth areas for AI is in cyber security, with market-leading technologies like Darktrace leading the pack. One of the main advantages that AI has over human beings is that robots never sleep—they don’t get tired, either. Cyber security is an area that has made great use of this feature, enabling 24/7 monitoring with the constant vigilance that is required to protect complex systems from ever-evolving threats.

Streamline Business Processes

Robots are not the only form of AI that have captured the imaginations of business leaders all over the globe. The variety of AI applications has gone way beyond science-fiction and become totally integrated into the day-to-day of modern business operations. As AI becomes more popular, the world’s top business leaders have started to leverage the most advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to radically change the way—and the rate at which—some of the most essential business tasks are done. For example, AI has helped to reduce the role of human error by reducing the need for human involvement in repetitive manual tasks and processes. It has also helped to streamline procedures that were previously wasteful and time-consuming.

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Make Your Team More Productive

Harnessing the power of AI in your startup operations could significantly free up the hardworking members of your team so that they can accomplish more of the tasks that demand creativity and imagination—for example, design or strategy—which will help your business grow. AI-powered business technology covers an impressive range of business procedures, from HR to manufacturing and everything in between. If you’re wondering how AI could help your business, start by identifying what tasks are the most draining for your team. Whether you get an AI-powered Payroll system or invest in a virtual assistant, harnessing AI solutions is a great way to clear your schedule of repetitive tasks and make your team more productive.

Whether you’ve just burst onto the scene or your business is ticking away steadily, AI-powered technology could help supercharge your team’s productivity, improve your security, and streamline your operation.

Why Your Business Needs To Outsource IT

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. When in business, it’s important to understand which functions to retain in house and which ones to outsource. Many business outsource their Information Technology services (IT), and as out technology continues to rapidly evolve, this often makes the most sense. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Your Business Needs To Outsource IT.

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If you want a thriving business, you need to be in control. If you want success in everything that you do, you need to be innovative. If you’re going to beat your competition and lead the market, then you need to be a leader within your organization. But how productive are you really? How many of these areas are you slipping in because you’ve not got the time and resources free to do them? How much of your day is taken up with other areas such as dealing with IT problems, or managing administration, recruitment, and payroll?

If the answer is that you are not spending time on the core aspects of your business, then you need to start making some changes. You need to free yourself up, along with your other significant team members. You need to have the time on your hands to worry about the things that make you profit.

Yes, all of the areas mentioned are significant. Without payrolling, your staff would not come to work. Without recruitment, they would not exist. And importantly, without an IT system, your company would operate very slowly and fail to capture any business in this digital era.

But you can have all of those things, and not do them yourself. Employing teams of staff to handle these parts of your business can be very costly. However, there is a much easier option. Outsourcing your business support tasks can be a constructive way of freeing up your resources to allow you to become much more productive.

Outsourcing Your IT Needs

Whether you need support managing your Microsoft Office 365 accounts or your cloud-based systems, bringing in the services of an outside IT company could improve your business immensely. You may need someone to keep your network secure or to carry out regular audits to make sure you are fully compliant with data protection regulations. Handling your customer’s information is a big responsibility, so having experts to help you with this can relieve much of the burden.

Expert Support When You Need It Most

Having someone with the highest level of experience available to you at all times will no doubt take a great deal of the pressure of you. It will give you a huge peace of mind that your business is in safe hands. To employ a team of people with the experience needed to run your IT systems in the manner that you require would be a costly and timely undertaking. Having managed IT services will mean you get access to this skill level at a fracture of the cost.

Move With The Times

The times are always changing, and tomorrow’s significant innovations in the tech world will be making your competitor’s businesses even more successful before you know it. If you want success, you will need to be ahead of the game. Having the support of a leading tech support company will help you to learn about and incorporate innovations that may be of benefit to your organization before it is too late.

Making Your Business Future Proof With The Cloud

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Inventions such as the cloud have changed the world and how business is done. There are certain protections that the cloud can provide. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Your Business Future Proof With The Cloud.

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When you’re just starting up and getting your team together, chances are you saw yourself working in a bright, airy office with plenty of natural light, the latest technology and perhaps even a handful of office plants to add that green touch.

The problem is that office space is expensive, technology is expensive and the plants need a lot of maintenance. While working together certainly adds to a sense of team cohesion, it might not be the only solution for collaborative working.

In this blog, we take a closer look at what it means for teams to work remotely using the latest Cloud-based technology, of which you’ll find more information on this website.

Staff First

As the boss you know that your staff are your greatest asset and finding fresh new ways to motivate them and boost productivity is an on-going challenge.

But rather than relying on gimmicks to keep them interested, take a look at what your staff value best. Chances are that a good balance between working and home life is going to come close to the top, if not top every single time.

It’s a brave move but why not give them that choice? Remote working is proven to be an option that enhances the lives of employees. It gives them more control over their working hours, it gives them the chance to balance family life around their job and spend more time with the people they love and care about. It also motivates them and pushes up productivity.

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Money Second

It also saves you money. That beautiful office and all its associated costs and technology can disappear. The daily commute in whether on public transport or in the car goes away, helping your pocket and the environment. It’s a win-win in so many ways.

You probably will still want to meet with staff every now and again and there are options for this with co-working spaces and the chance to hire out meeting rooms on an ad hoc basis.

Your Security

It will have crossed your mind that Cloud-based working might not be the safest way of sharing and storing files but a lot has changed since this concept first started. Today’s Cloud services are fully managed and secure.

It will rely on your staff avoiding the use of open networks and sticking to password protected options but that doesn’t mean you should encounter any problems. On managed sites help is just a phone call or an email away, so any routine glitches should be sorted out quickly and easily.

Put your trust in the Cloud and take a chance on a new way of working that will save you money, inspire your staff and ultimately make you more efficient. Do your research and find a Cloud service provider that offers you great value for money and ticks all the right boxes when it comes to making your business future proof. Your wallet, your staff and your customers will all thank you for it.

Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. If you’re using a website as a part of your business, you want to understand its engagement with your customers. An effective website will draw in more customers and increase your profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Making Sense Of Your Website Engagement.

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As a business that runs a large amount of its customer-facing approach online, you will be subject to plenty of data over the years. User visiting time, the visitor’s geography, what ads or social media links have led them to your site are important, and yet barely scratch the surface as to what data is available.

But to an untrained eye, this data can often look completely out of the norm, and sometimes, even random. This means that making sense of your website engagement becomes a vital tool in trying to assess what your customers want, and how your business is performing across all of its web portals.

But more than that, breakthroughs in data analytics consulting have allowed businesses the chance to construct models regarding those they could potentially sell to, ensuring that marketing is more targeted in both its content and delivery methodology. Like any good business leader, you are likely also interested in the metrics that can give you a surer shot when aiming for gold.

So, let us serve as the scope:

Understand Your Promotional Reach

It’s essential to consider how your homepage is structured, and what drives the most attention. Do visitors often click on your promotional bar at the top of the screen? What has driven more traffic? Which social media pages do you often get the most engagement from? Do you find that enabling social media replies and comments is worthwhile, or that they quickly devolve into unrelated arguments (as is the way of the internet?) Furthermore, have your sponsored posts gained the traction you were hoping for, or is simple excellent hash tagging and posting at the right time of day almost comparable in the results they achieve? When you view the data of your promotional reach and branch out to make the correct changes, you have an access of power to this end.

Visitor Time

When a customer visits your website, how long do they stay for? In other words, how much functionality do you offer? For example, do you list all of the specs on your product page, as well as the different payment options, a video demonstrating the product in action, or perhaps discussing how your product differs from comparable items on the market? Do you offer them to talk on ownership forums that allows your community to get together and discuss various impressions they have? All of this can increase visitor time to your website, and every second spent there is another potential second where a purchase or booking can be made.

Feedback Forms

Sometimes, you need to hear directly from your users in the first place. Feedback forms can be a fantastic measure for this in the long run. There you might find that someone using a particular web browser has trouble loading your web pages, or perhaps an intrusive advertising strategy is breaking some of the widgets you use. It can be easy to have blinders on in regards to these issues, and so we would recommend you keep an eye on them ahead of time.

With this advice, you are certain to make sense of your website engagement.

How To Buy A Data Cabinet

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In our modern digital age, it’s highly likely a major component of your business is its information technology (IT). As such, you’re likely using or will need a Data Cabinet. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Buy A Data Cabinet.

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A data cabinet or a server rack is something which is used to store IT equipment. It is vitally important that any individual or business that has such equipment stores it properly in order to avoid any damage.

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There are a whole host of different server racks and data cabinets available in stores all over the US and on the internet, which companies like Midwest Data Center make the most of. This is great because it means that there is a lot to choose from when it comes to selecting the right one for your business equipment. Nevertheless, this can also make it more difficult to actually know which one is the best option. In order to help those searching for data cabinets narrow down their search this article will help by providing some points people should be considering when looking for such goods.

The first aspect which needs to be thought about is the height of the data cabinet. Most data racks are measured in the ‘U’ measurement. For those that do not know, ‘U’ is the measurement which is usually used for all rack mount equipment and it translates to 44.45mm. This may seem like a random measurement to many. However, one U is used to display how many units the server cabinet in question can hold.

There are a vast range of different size data cabinets available today; typically shops tend to stock anything from 12U cabinets to 47U cabinets. Obviously the height of the server rack required depends on how much equipment a business is intending to store. The individual in question should sit down and come to a number of how many equipment pieces are going to be placed into the cabinets, this will give the person an idea of what they should be going for. However, it is always advisable to buy a rack with a few more added spaces, as you never know what else you may need to accommodate for and it is always better to be prepared for more.

Obviously the size of the cabinet does not just depend on the height; there is the width and depth to take into consideration as well. The size a person opts to go for obviously also depends on the equipment which needs to be stored. In general the two main options with regards to width is 800mm and 600mm and when it comes to depth the three main options are as follows; 800mm, 1000mm and 1200mm.

Remember it is also important to keep in mind the weight of the data cabinet because it needs to substantial enough to carry the equipment which is going to be stored inside of it otherwise it may cave in and thus a new cabinet will be needed altogether.

In addition to this, the price of the cabinets and racks will need to be considered by businesses as well. At the end of the day, each business is different and each business will have their own budget with regards to what they can afford. It is vital to devise a strict plan and stick to it as it can be very easy to get carried away and spend a lot more then was initially intended.

Finally, it is also extremely important to make sure that any data cabinet accessories are considered. These can include things such as; fixings and fans.