Not so long ago, purely reactive IT support was popular – report a problem, fix the problem. However, this method isn’t suitable for many businesses where any downtime can cause major issues. Thankfully, in more recent years, the dynamic has shifted to a more proactive approach.
Proactive IT support means having a partner working in the background to maintain and monitor your entire network. A good partner can detect and deal with problems before they occur, often without their clients knowing there’s been an issue. They are also often able to predict when their clients need to change or upgrade their devices, software, or security, thus reducing unexpected spending and encouraging better budgeting.
The quicker a problem is resolved, the less downtime you have and the less costly it is. Therefore, the old cliché – prevention is better than cure rings true.
Less downtime
Downtime is a severe drain on your business. In certain settings, even 15 minutes of downtime can cause chaos.
Then it can be a real effort to get people back on track. If you experience regular periods of downtime, this is frustrating for all involved.
Massive cost savings
Every minute your systems are down or under-performing, it costs you money.
A recent survey found that 78% of SMEs reported costs of more than £7,000 for each hour of downtime they experienced. 10% of businesses said that figure was over £36,000. This figure increases hour after hour after hour.
Better disaster recovery planning
Even with a highly proactive IT partner, it’s impossible and unrealistic to expect 100% of all technical problems to be prevented. Technology and everything that comes with it is incredibly complex, and it’s constantly changing.
Big disasters can happen to anyone and everyone. When you choose the right partner, you work together to create a disaster recovery plan specific to your business.
A proactive partner will ensure all your necessary data is backed-up and crucially, regularly check that your backup is working. They’ll also ensure you have access to everything you need to keep your business working should disaster strike.
Kinder to your budget
With a proactive partner, you’ll already be saving money on downtime and callouts.
A big part of being proactive is anticipating where issues will arise. You can then work with your IT partner to plan future investments and even put together a strategic technology roadmap. You’ll have the ability to budget better and stretch it further because you know you’ll have fewer surprise costs along the way.
Increased security
The last thing your business wants is an uninvited guest poking around in your systems or stealing clients sensitive information.
Proactive IT Support always keep an eye on their clients’ networks using the best-sophisticated analysis and monitoring tools:
- Looking for security holes
- Monitoring for anything amiss
- Updating operating systems and software
This allows partners to spot potential threats and issues before they occur, keeping your data safe and everything functioning.
The best part of this is that this happens 24/7 without you even knowing it.
