Proactive IT Support – What is it, why 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, startups and family run 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 a pays-as-you go 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:

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

of Hire an “IT Person”

In-person IT support
A single point of contact for all IT matters
Control
Dedicated resource for your business

Disadvantages

of Hire an “IT Person”

A limit to the IT skillsets available to you with one individual
The expense of IT professional salary and benefits
No, IT coverage for sick days, evenings, and holidays.
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 most significant 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. 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.

Like cars and bikes, IT systems 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 initially.

That’s why proactive IT support is so critical to your organisation’s continued success. Without proactive IT support, your business is susceptible to:

Each of the tasks we undertake helps us 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.

Do you want to know more about how our team employs a proactive IT support strategy to keep your workflow running at full speed? Please fill in the form below for a no obligation chat with me.