You’ve probably heard of the saying “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it”
Interestingly enough many small to midsize businesses are run using this same principle. There is more time spent fixing issues than there is spent planning to ensuring that certain business challenges are non-existent.
In IT support, reactive support is seen more often than proactive IT planning and improvement. This is sometimes due to limited resources or the inability to effectively monitor current IT systems constantly.
Think about it! Don’t you usually interact with your IT support personnel when your computer isn’t working?
The idea of proactive IT monitoring and support is to keep IT support calls that address IT issues to a minimum.
How Does Reactive IT Support Cost Your Business?
It seems like costs would be lower when you provide minimal IT support or utilize a reactive process to address problems that are bound to crop up from time to time. But this tactic can actually be far more expensive than you realize.
Data loss that could be prevented, equipment issues that are avoidable with proper maintenance and oversight, and the loss of productive work hours due to a network or system failure can all entail considerable expenses.
Read: How to Become an IT Superhero With Proactive Support
The Hidden Costs of Reactive IT Support
On the surface, paying for IT services when everything is running smoothly may seem like an expense that is unnecessary. But look deeper. Proactive IT support and solutions provide a far greater return on your investment than you suspect.
Ensuring computer terminals and devices are kept in good working order, maintaining a more dependable network and guaranteeing that software issues are dealt with long before the first sign of trouble greatly reduces costs associated with conventional reactive IT services.
Preventing problems from occurring can be done with a fraction of the total costs needed to recover from a true IT disaster.
Think about how much it costs to take your car in to get it serviced every three months or so, and compare it to how much you would have to pay if you had to get something major fixed because you stopped getting your car serviced. In most cases, you end up spending more because you are been reactive and you have an emergency situation at hand.
What are The Benefits of Proactive IT Support?
Proactive IT support solutions benefit your bottom line by reducing or eliminating the risks and potential loss of productivity caused by:
- Disasters and data loss
- Downtime and the inability to access applications, files and network-based services
- Antiquated equipment, expired software licensing and poorly managed networks, firewalls and antivirus applications
From malware to system upgrades, dealing with IT concerns aggressively ensures minor issues are promptly addressed before they result in more costly problems.
Proactive IT Solutions for Maintaining a Dependable Network
The most sophisticated networks, applications and digital working environments can be rendered useless in the event of an IT problem that leaves workers, staff and associates with no other option but to wait for a solution.
Network dependability is absolutely crucial for minimizing downtime and ensuring sustainable productivity and ideal efficiency. Proper maintenance and proactive support eliminate many of the most expensive issues frequently caused by poorly maintained hardware and equipment, or software applications that have not been properly configured and updated.
Related: Proactive vs. Reactive IT Support
Monitoring and Maintenance Solutions
Every network and system will experience issues and develop problems at some point – but a proactive approach to IT services can ensure that failures are less frequent, less severe and easily addressed. Proactive IT monitoring and support can be of benefit by:
- Ensuring back-up systems and efforts are functioning efficiently and archived data is safe and secure
- Firewalls and antivirus applications are utilized correctly and up to date
- Problems caused by user error are quickly spotted, identified and corrected before they pose unnecessary risk to the system or network
Proactive, preventative IT maintenance, periodic hardware checks and software diagnostics and a more efficient and timely response improve network dependability and provide cost-effective IT solutions that address and avoid a full range of serious, preventable and potentially costly technical issues.