Having been in the IT services business for over 35 years I have seen a lot of evolution in the way IT is delivered. Thinking back to the beginning, PCs were new and not something that users relied on. As a result, a PC with a problem was treated differently back in 1984 compared to today. Back then users were just starting to utilize PCs, primarily for spreadsheets and word processing. Computers were not networked, hence sharing data was limited.
Today is a different world. Take a moment and consider, do you or anyone you know use a PC that is not connected to a network or the internet? Today we are sharing data constantly with fellow workers, clients, vendors, and others. To look at this another way, back then the PC was a tool that we used periodically, today it is an instrumental part of our work flow.
How does this affect how our PCs are serviced? Consider other systems that you use and your need for them to perform. For example, compare your vehicle and a heart pacemaker. If your vehicle fails, it will cause you to be late for work or maybe a picnic. Problematic but not disastrous. If your pacemaker fails, it could cause a life or death situation. Would you want the same service response on your pacemaker as your vehicle? Probably not.
This comparison may seem extreme, but here is the business analogy. Thirty years ago, break/fix coverage on your PC was acceptable, as a break down would affect your day, but not bring it to a halt. Today, break/fix coverage is not acceptable, as a break down would literally prevent you from performing the basic tasks of processing information.
Managed services to the rescue! Managed services takes a different approach to keeping your computing online. While the old school approach of break/fix service just provided a response once you notified your provider of the problem, Managed services takes a proactive approach to the situation. How do we do this? Managed services provides an ongoing method of monitoring your systems so that we often can prevent the problem and eliminate downtime, and even if the problem is not prevented, provides for a quicker resolution to the problem to minimize the downtime!
Why is this important? TIME! When your systems don’t work, neither do you, and it is EXPENSIVE! As a result, reducing downtime equals maximizing productivity! But there’s more, and that more finds its home in the securing of your systems.
Back in the 1980’s, securing your systems meant backing them up. Today it is a different world as constant attacks are being made on your network. The ONLY way to protect your network is a PROACTIVE approach to security. This is part and parcel of the Managed services approach. Managed services provides you a continuous updating, monitoring, and resolving of most issues BEFORE they take your network down. This includes:
- Proactively updating your devices to patch known vulnerabilities which decrease the likelihood of a malicious hack/attack
- Training your staff on the best IT security practices
- Monitoring your devices to proactively identify impending failures and take corrective action
- Capturing continuous images of your data and storing them both on-site and offsite
- Implementing an IT Lifecycle management system to proactively replace IT equipment as it ages and is no longer supported
How is this done? A combination of tools and staffing that allow us to:
- Monitor the devices and report changes and impending issues
- Remotely manage and update all devices
- Track assets and service incidents
- Train clients staffs to notice and avoid phishing and other attacks
- Log incidents and create tickets to manage the resolution
- Proactively resolve issues via our engineers and technicians
The result? Your network remains online, productive & secure. And that provides a bottom line effect that we can all appreciate!
