For many organizations, summer signals a shift—not a shutdown.
Workflows change. Staff take time off. Some offices go fully remote.
In sectors like education, outpatient healthcare, and professional services, summer brings a slower cadence or project-based activity instead of the usual daily grind.
That’s exactly why summer is the perfect time to pressure-test and upgrade your IT strategy.
Just like facilities teams take advantage of an empty office to repaint or service HVAC systems, business leaders should treat summer as a window of opportunity: a chance to test the resilience, readiness, and performance of your IT systems before the busy season kicks back into gear.
Whether you’re a healthcare group planning a fall hiring wave or a CPA firm preparing for the year-end tax rush, the quieter summer months are ideal for evaluating and optimizing your tech stack.
What To Test and Why This Summer
🖥️ Equipment: Tuning Your Foundation
- Do Your Maintenance Now Summer is the best time to update software, replace aging hardware, and perform system upgrades—especially when fewer people are onsite.
- Optimize Cloud Tools If you’re moving away from traditional servers or Active Directory, now’s the time to refine and test your cloud-native setup, ensuring that your apps and endpoints perform as expected before everyone returns in full force.
🔐 Security: Identify Weak Spots Before Threats Do
- Run Vulnerability Scans and Pen Tests Summer’s lull is ideal for proactively scanning your environment. Are your firewalls configured correctly? Do your endpoints have up-to-date security tools?
- Review Security Policies When was the last time you looked at your password policy or email phishing training? Summer is the right time to align your security playbook with how your team actually works.
💾 Backup and Disaster Recovery: Because Downtime Isn’t a Vacation
- Test Your Backups and Recovery Plans Backups are only valuable if they work. Summer’s a smart time to simulate a real recovery event and document exactly how long it would take to restore operations.
- Revisit Your Business Continuity Plan Staff changes? Remote work? New software? Your continuity plan needs to reflect today’s reality, not last year’s assumptions.
🧪 Technology Adoption: Pilot Without Pressure
- Try New Tools or Processes Considering Microsoft Copilot, a new CRM, or switching to Teams Phone? Testing over the summer allows smoother rollouts with fewer disruptions—and real-world feedback from a smaller group.
- Build Internal Champions Use the break to train a few team members on new systems so they’re ready to support the broader team during rollout.
🧑💻 Remote Work Readiness: Are You Really Covered?
- Evaluate Your Remote Setup Are remote team members working securely? Are laptops properly managed and monitored? Summer is a great time to check configurations, update MDM policies, and evaluate endpoint protection tools.
- Test What Happens If Everyone’s Remote Again Whether it’s a heatwave, COVID spike, or just a team offsite—can your systems support 100% remote operations without hiccups?
Real Summer Scenarios to Think About:
- Your front office manager takes two weeks off—can the temp get access to what they need securely and quickly?
- You’re onboarding new hires before the fall—can IT provision their devices efficiently and securely without delays?
- Your IT vendor goes quiet—do you know who to call if something breaks?
The Strategic Shift: From Reactive to Proactive
You wouldn’t wait until tax season to upgrade your accounting system—so why wait until disaster strikes to test your backups or security posture?
Proactive IT strategy means fewer surprises, fewer emergencies, and more value from your technology investments.
And summer is your chance to lead from the front.
Now Is the Time to Act
Summer doesn’t have to be slow—it can be smart.
📞 Let’s Talk.
Schedule a Free IT Checkup with Stringfellow Technology Group and we’ll walk you through:
- A security and infrastructure review tailored to your business
- Recommendations you can implement before fall
- Actionable insights with zero obligation
Your technology shouldn’t take a vacation from being reliable.
