Proactive IT Support ' What is it, and why is it so crucial?

Proactive IT Support ' What is it, and why is it so crucial?

As companies grow in size and workflow complexity, their IT support grows (or at least should grow) alongside them.In the beginning, start-ups and mom-and-pop small businesses often opt for IT support from someone they know ' often a friend or family member. This IT support resource is usually in place on an hours-plus-materials basis and only called in when there is a problem with their computers.But as an organization begins to mature, company leadership realizes the need for ongoing IT maintenance and support from a more advanced IT resource. The considerations then often come down to two options:

• Hire an 'IT person'
• Partner with an IT team outside the company

While 'hire an IT person' seems attractive and is a stage that many companies go through on their 'IT support journey,' there are some clear advantages and disadvantages to the in-house 'IT person' option. Here are a few.

Advantages:

• In-person IT support
• A single point of contact for all IT matters
• Control

Disadvantages:

• A limit to the IT skillsets available to you with one individual
• Expense of IT professional salary and benefits
• No IT coverage for sick days, evenings, and vacations
• IT person too busy with end-user requests to do IT maintenance and management

What companies are really looking for in hiring an in-house IT professional or partnering with an external IT support firm is IT asset reliability. This is where our discussion begins to answer our original question.

What is Proactive IT Support and Why is it so Crucial?

Proactive IT support is the process of configuring, maintaining, and monitoring a company's IT environment in a way that provides the greatest amount of workflow efficiency and uptime.As an example, think of your vehicle.You want it to start, run, and be safe on the road. In order to accomplish this, you pay a mechanic to do regular oil changes, replacement of wear parts, and other maintenance tasks. His/her proactive work on your vehicle helps you avoid the prospect of breaking down on your way to or from work today.IT systems, like cars and trucks, need ongoing maintenance to stay ahead of breakdowns and IT security incidents.IT support teams like ours proactively take care of:

• Operating system updates
• Application updates
• Security updates
• Security monitoring
• Operational monitoring
• Backup automation
• Backup monitoring and verification
• and more'

Why Is Proactive IT Support So Important for Your Business?

There may have been a time when your business could have tolerated hours or days of downtime because of a server crash or cyber-intrusion.Because your business and its processes have matured, you are much more dependent today on technology and access to your data than you were at the beginning.That's why proactive IT support is so critical to your organization's continued success.Without proactive IT support, your business is susceptible to:

• Prolonged unplanned downtime
• Damage from ransomware attacks
• Slowdowns and lag time resulting from un-optimized systems
• Data breaches, leaks, and losses

Each of the tasks we undertake helps us to get ahead of potential IT issues before they become big problems that hold up your projects, harm your relationship with your clients, and diminish your brand reputation.

Want to know more about how our team employs a proactive IT support strategy to keep your workflow running at full speed?

Contact us today for a no-obligation conversation.