The break-fix approach to technology management can be costly in the long run. Moving to proactive IT support helps prevent costs and ensures productivity doesn’t suffer.
Proactive IT support includes vigilant monitoring and bespoke technology consulting. It also offers a predictable monthly cost, eliminating the budget impact of surprise IT service fees.
Preventing Unexpected Outages
Historically, IT teams have worked reactively to fix issues as they arise. It is often a stressful, overwhelming role, leading to burnout, high turnover, and a lack of vision for new initiatives that could boost productivity and the customer experience.
A proactive IT management strategy involves regularly evaluating all aspects of a company’s tech stack and taking action to correct weaknesses, prevent cyberattacks, and avoid downtime. It also includes communicating the value of IT to employees to foster engagement and change how a business views its IT department.
Operator error is a common cause of unexpected outages, but it can be avoided with the assistance of a knowledgeable IT support staff. For instance, to keep computers operating smoothly, a managed IT service provider like Vann Data might advise replacing worn-out parts or suggesting software upgrades to avoid lags and other problems affecting operations. Similarly, a team that offers remote desktop support can help staff work through day-to-day IT tasks and focus on more important strategic projects.
Preventing Cyberattacks
For digitally dependent businesses, the consequences of IT failures can be disastrous. Employees lose time, customers get frustrated, and companies can even be forced to pay financial penalties like fines or lost productivity.
Proactive IT management can prevent such issues by monitoring systems and alerting staff when something is wrong or about to go wrong. It can save valuable minutes or hours of lost productivity, especially for projects requiring collaboration between multiple employees.
A proactive strategy can help businesses avoid costly hardware repairs by identifying and replacing components before they wear out. In addition, firms that offer managed IT services can replace antiquated software or computers that are gumming up the system and hindering productivity.
Preventing Overspending
Your business should view IT as an investment with a return. However, many companies treat IT as an expense, often resulting in a reactive IT approach.
In a reactive IT environment, your IT team drops everything to fix an issue as it surfaces. Rest assured that this can tremendously impact productivity and customer satisfaction.
Additionally, IT teams are prone to overspending with a reactive model. IT staff have to make decisions on the fly, without knowing the full budget impact until it’s time for a hardware or software refresh.
A proactive IT strategy prevents overspending by creating a streamlined IT purchasing process that requires teams to prioritize an application’s ROI and value before submitting a purchase request. Furthermore, a proactive strategy can help minimize costs by regularly replacing components in older computers instead of waiting until they break down. By keeping your software up-to-date, you can enhance the performance of your computers and eliminate any delays that may be hindering your productivity.
Preventing Downtime
Regularly monitoring systems and infrastructure to identify and resolve potential issues before they occur is the cornerstone of proactive IT management. It can prevent downtime, improve security, and manage complexity.
It can be done by analyzing data logs, network monitors, and other sources of information. Then, the IT team seeks out and resolves issues, faults, and known errors (known as KEDB) before they become incidents.
By preventing these problems, businesses can reduce costly downtime, improve productivity, and avoid hefty financial penalties. A proactive strategy also allows companies to avoid overspending by identifying the most cost-effective technology for their business. Using tools like self-help documentation for common IT issues can also eliminate the need to call the IT support team, which helps to keep costs down. The goal is to view IT as an asset with a positive return on investment, not just an expense that must be budgeted and monitored.