How to get more out of your IT provider

You may be paying a monthly amount to an IT provider to provide you with a "managed services", but what does this include and what exactly are they doing behind the scenes to keep your business online and up and running? Here's a list of the most common items an IT company offers as part of this service.

Remote management and monitoring (RMM)

This is by far the most common service offered. It's part of the proactive piece that most firms offer and do for their client base. Included with remote management and monitoring is the ability to patch and keep desktop PCs, laptops and other devices securely updated.

It does not stop there, the RMM services will also monitor server and system health. If you have a critical business system that's running at almost full capacity, let's say for example a network storage area, the RMM will send an alert if a threshold is reached. This allows the IT provider to plan for capacity and storage upgrades before you run out of space.

Backup & Antivirus

Maintaining a working backup is commonplace and most IT companies that know what they are doing will be regularly checking your backup system to make sure it is working.

The current number one threat to most businesses is data loss and cybersecurity threats. As such a working backup is imperative. If for some reason your backup fails and you are a victim to a cybersecurity breach you may lose data.