Relying on reactive, hourly IT support is an inefficient and expensive way to manage business technology. While paying for IT services only when something breaks appears cost-effective, the model creates a direct conflict of interest. An hourly IT provider generates revenue when technology fails, meaning they lack the financial incentive to prevent issues from occurring.
You know if you skip too many oil changes, it's going to cause long-term damage to your car, so why would you skip network maintenance?
Think about how most businesses handle their vehicles. You don't wait for the engine to seize up on the highway before you decide to look under the hood. You handle the oil changes, you check the brakes, and you rotate the tires. You do it because a broken-down van means missed deliveries, angry customers, and a massive, unexpected repair bill.
Yet, when it comes to technology, so many businesses run the engine until it literally smokes.
When we sit down and watch a movie, we love a hero who arrives just in time to defuse a ticking clock. In business, however, the ticking clock is actually your company’s overhead, and every second it ticks during a system outage is money evaporating.
As far as your business is concerned, we have a bit of a contrarian view: if your IT provider is constantly saving the day with dramatic, late-night heroics, it’s a sign that your technology strategy is actually failing you.
For a fun little exercise, imagine you’ve just signed up for our managed IT services. Everything’s well and good, but then, something goes wrong with your computer. What gives? Aren’t we supposed to prevent issues from occurring in the first place? It’s easy to get discouraged when freak situations like this occur, but it’s important to highlight what proactive IT solutions can do, and more importantly, what they can’t do.
Many small and medium-sized businesses have serious difficulties when they try to balance their technology needs against the limited resources at their disposal. Fortunately, this serious issue can be resolved effectively by working with a managed service provider (or MSP). The approach that these professionals take outpaces the value that more traditional forms of IT support have been able to offer—whether that support is through an external provider or even an in-house team.
With technology cementing itself in all aspects of everyday life, businesses need a stronger competitive edge than ever to overcome the odds. SMBs can use technology for this purpose, specifically outsourcing technology management and maintenance to a third party. With the help of a managed service provider, your business can compensate for any skills deficit it might have and properly maintain its IT infrastructure.
Cloud computing is used by just about all businesses in some capacity, but how much should your company rely on it for its important functions? Let’s discuss some of the options you have for your cloud computing infrastructure and how it can all contribute to your business’ continued success.
Monitoring parts of your business is a good practice as it allows you to get out in front of any potential problem it may have. As IT is concerned, monitoring is a crucial part of ensuring that every part of your business’ computing infrastructure is working as intended. Today, we thought we’d discuss the tools used to monitor IT networks and infrastructure, and what effect that can have on your business.
When a person reaches out to you for your business acumen, you help them because you know more than they do. Why else would they ask? The best thing you can do for your business is to use technology effectively. The only way you’ll know you are doing that is if you see the increased productivity, efficiency, and profitability often cited as reasons to invest in technology. In part three of our series about managed IT services value, we will take a look at the role of consulting, and how it brings big benefits in many different aspects of your business.