Do you wait until something breaks before you fix it? I'm actually a strong proponent of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" idea, except when it pertains to the lifeblood of your business: your networks, hard drives, servers and workstations. Most people wouldn't think of waiting until their car breaks down before getting the oil changed, however there are still a large number of small and medium-size companies and firms that wait for a disaster to happen before they call a hardware technician.
There's a better way to do things: Managed IT Services. Most of your better IT service firms will only accept clients that are will to sign a contract for managed services. With this type of service, the IT firm will take a survey of your existing equipment and make recommendations for changes and/or point out potential trouble spots. They will continually remotely monitor your hardware, networks and backups. The importance of this monitoring is to assure that you will not be faced with unexpected hardware failures. They will take care of problems before they become a disaster. Here are some other reason you might want to change to Managed IT services:
- Control your Costs: Managed services might cost more in the short-term, they cost much less in the long term if you take into account the lost productivity and customer/client satisfaction
- IT is becoming increasingly complex. Most companies do not have the resources to maintain the in-house expertise that is necessary to maintain their equipment.
- Your business is more dependent than ever on IT. A a one or two-person in-house IT department or consultancy cannot handle the occasional breakdowns that are bound to occur. In many cases, employees have to wait to receive help, resulting in a significant loss in productivity.
