Are you tired of constantly coming into the office only to find that the system is down again? Technology is supposed to make your life easier, but sometimes it feels like it’s just getting in the way. If your system goes down, your work has to come to a halt, making it difficult to get much of anything accomplished. On top of that, if you’re a small to medium sized business, it might be out of your budget to hire additional staff to help take care of these issues. The good news? You’re not stuck. There’s actually a great, affordable way to implement quality IT services that ensure your network is regularly updated and monitored, and it’s called Managed IT services.
Managed IT allows you to cut expensive in-house IT costs in favor of a monthly flat-rate fee that pays an IT company to handle all of your business’ IT concerns. Essentially, you’re hiring an IT company to monitor your network, regularly perform updates, and make sure you’re kept aware of any useful upgrades or changes to your system. But what are the benefits of hiring a managed IT services company? Let’s tackle ‘em one at a time:
Fixing Problems Before They Occur
If you don’t already have a managed IT service provider, your IT security probably functions on an, “if it breaks, fix it quick!” policy. While this works for a while, there comes a point where you start to realize there might be an easier way to go about that. If only you could just get on top of the problem before it even began! Managed IT is your solution to that. When you hire a managed IT service provider, you get to forget about IT problems as you knew them. Of course, there will still be scheduled maintenance and regular communication, but with someone monitoring your network all the time, you’ll be considerably more productive, since you’ll experience less downtime, which leads us to our next point:
Increased Productivity
Let’s be honest, you absolutely need your system to work at all times. How can you contact clients, and how can they contact you, when your network is down? How can you perform your typical duties if you don’t have a working computer, or internet access? The truth is, you can’t. You rely on technology every day to get your job done, and if you’re just fixing your IT issues on an as-needed basis, you’ll have too much downtime. Managed IT services do more than just monitor your IT system regularly, they increase your productivity. When you don’t have to worry about fixing a downed system, and when you have very little downtime at all, you have more time to put towards actually running your business.
One Flat Rate
Remember those crazy emergency fees you used to pay when you had to have an IT expert come out to your company when your server went down? Well you can say goodbye to those with managed IT services. For a flat monthly fee, you’ll get consistent monitoring as well as emergency service. So even if something does go wrong, you’re still covered, and you’re not paying exorbitant emergency service costs.
Team of Experts
When you hire someone to take over your IT network, you get the absolute highest quality of service for a fraction of the price it would cost you to hire those people to work for your company outright. Instead of getting just one or two IT people, you’ll get an entire team of qualified experts, that not only monitor your network constantly, but that you can call upon in case of emergency. The best part about managed services is that you get the whole team for a price that your company can afford.
But How Do You Tell the Good Providers From the Bad?
Focuses on business needs – There are too many IT service providers out there with standard IT plans that they apply to every client. Unfortunately, not every client has the same needs, so it’s important that you choose an IT service provider who looks at your company and IT needs differently from others. There are plenty of IT companies out there who tailor their IT service plans directly to the needs of their client, and those are the ones you should be seeking out.
Partnership – When you’re shopping for an IT service provider, make sure you’re looking at companies that value retaining clients over just setting up systems. Optimally, you want a company who sees you more as a partner than an employer. While IT companies that will get your network all set up and running properly for your company are great at what they do, you want to make sure you’re hiring someone who can monitor your network for years to come. A legitimate IT partner will do much more than just make sure your server is running. They’ll make sure you’re up to date with current technology, and they’ll keep in regular contact with you, so you know what’s going on with your system, and what options you have to upgrade. You don’t want someone to just fix it and forget it, rather you want someone who will stay with you as your company grows and expands, providing excellent suggestions and service.
Help Desk/Support – Even with a world-class, top-of-the-line IT company, issues are going to come up. Unfortunately, they’re unavoidable. So, make sure you choose a provider with great customer service. Whether this means they have a 24/7 help desk, or an emergency ticketing service, it’s important that you make sure they actually stand by it. You might want to give them a test call before you sign on, or ask around to their other clients, because great customer service should not be a compromise. A 24/7 help desk is no good if no one’s picking up the phone.
If you have more questions about how managed IT services work, or if you think managed IT might be right for your company, give the experts at RedFive a call at 1-877-890-RED5 (7335), or contact us online today!