Technology advancements have meant that small problems within a computer system often need experts to fix. Gone are the days when a business owner could fix their network by replacing a few pieces of hardware. Today computing systems are far more advanced and because of this businesses are turning to IT support teams for help.
There are different models of IT support which will benefit your business, today we will be looking at proactive IT support services.
What is proactive IT support?
Proactive IT support is when you hire a team of technical support agents to monitor and protect your IT system. You can outsource this service to something known as a managed service provider. Outsourcing your tech support is cheaper and often more efficient than building your own tech support team in house.
For a proactive approach to work, you will need to give your MSP access to your network and data. Some business owners feel uneasy doing this which is understandable, for that reason we would advise you to go with a tech support team that you can trust. If possible we would recommend hiring a team in your city, if something goes wrong they can be on-site quickly.
Unlike other models, proactive IT support is seen as a business partnership as you will work together with the MSP to make sure your entire network is safe, efficient and stays that way. Other models such as reactive IT support on the other hand are seen as a one time fix as and when you need it.
Benefits of Proactive IT support
When you partner with an IT support company that offers proactive IT support you will be working with a company that’s invested in your business. If they can protect you from threats, keep your systems running as they should and even improve them you are going to stick around and pay them.
Downtime can cost your business thousands and the larger your company the larger the potential losses. Using a traditional reactive model of support you can expect downtime, with proactive support the aim is to stop and minimise any downtime.
Hiring a proactive support company also means that you have access to technical experts in a variety of fields. It’s uncommon for a tech support agent to know all areas of support, so what tends to happen is a company needs to hire multiple support agents in-house. Depending on where your business is located this could cost you CAD$100,000 a year per agent. This can quickly mount up.
Most businesses can’t afford to invest CAD$100,000 per agent so they look at alternatives such as outsourcing to an MSP.
Managed service providers or MSPs for short, offer all of the expert knowledge along with many different agents for a fraction of the price. This makes them a more affordable option and makes IT support accessible to all businesses.
Downsides of proactive IT support
As you can see, proactive IT support is great for companies that want to minimise the problems they have with their IT systems. However, all of this comes at a cost and while still cheaper than hiring an in house team, proactive IT support is one of the most expensive models of IT support.
All of your costs when it comes to IT support are upfront. You will pay for the team to learn your system, and implement changes and then a monthly fee will be charged for monitoring and fixing problems that arise.
For other business owners, they may not like the thought of someone coming in and having access to all their data and network. To work with a proactive IT support company you are going to need to do this. I know this can be worrying, but to get around this problem you should only work with established businesses with a good reputation.
Here at Bedrock IT, we have many years of experience in providing managed services, so if you would like a quote please get in touch with us.
Will my business benefit from proactive IT support?
We believe all businesses can benefit from proactive IT support. When an hour of downtime could cost you thousands in earnings, having an expert in your corner to fix the problem as fast as possible is always going to benefit you.
On the other hand, if you are a small business that has 1 employee and you run the business on your own you may not need a proactive IT support contract. In this instance, you may be better off hiring a reactive IT support company. For smaller companies having some downtime isn’t going to cost them thousands, it could be inconvenient but it all depends on your business situation.
If you would like to speak to an IT consultant so that you know if proactive or reactive IT support is for you then get in touch with us today for a free quote.
Final thoughts
If your business has multiple staff and relies on its IT system to keep everything running as it should then hiring a managed service provider to provide proactive IT support will benefit your business.
If you are a small one-person business that can handle the odd downtime here and there then proactive IT support may not be for your business.
