From Firefighting to Forecasting: How AI is Reinventing IT Support for SMEs

For SMEs, IT support has traditionally been break-fix i.e. something goes wrong, you get it sorted. Server crashed? Spinning wheel of doom? Malware snuck onto your network? Call the IT guys, they’ll know what to do.

That model is, among other things, wildly out of date, costly and inefficient. Prevention, as we all know, is better than cure - which is why we (and any other MSP worth their contract) believe in improving your IT before problems arise.

That just became a whole lot easier with AI, which is being harnessed to monitor systems, detect potential and recommend fixes before they become problems. It reduces downtime, cuts cost and enhance productivity. What’s not to love?

AI as Your IT Early Warning System

AI-powered monitoring acts like a virtual IT assistant, keeping an eye on your systems, devices and network 24/7, checking for signs of trouble. It’ll use historical data, real-time system performance and usage patterns to detect anomalies:

• Device health – AI will check and flag hardware that is likely to fail soon, meaning that IT teams can proactively replace or repair them before they cause unexpected disruptions – and before the spinning wheel of doom rears its head (hurrah!).
• Spotting Gremlins in the software – AI can also monitor application behaviour and detect performance slowdowns, compatibility issues, or security vulnerabilities before they impact operations – meaning less downtime because your systems aren’t playing ball
• Getting more bang for your buck ?– AI ?will track bandwidth usage and predict when systems might experience overload, allowing your IT support to optimise network performance before employees even notice slowdowns.

In a nutshell, it’ll give you a heads up that will help you to avoid down, expensive repairs and disruptions – which are all much more expensive than planned maintenance.

That however, isn’t all AI can do for you.

For SMEs, every minute of downtime is costly. It disrupts your day, creates log jams and pile ups in your work flow, and (more than likely) winds up your clients.

In fact, according to recent industry reports, IT downtime costs t small businesses hundreds to thousands of pounds per hour in lost productivity and sales.

As you’ve likely guessed, AI-powered IT support can mitigate a lot that:

• Automates the routine – It’ll automatically apply patches, restart systems, or reroute network traffic when it detects potential issues.
• Give you a heads up – Instead of IT teams being overwhelmed with generic error messages, AI priorities alerts based on urgency and likely impact. It means IT staff can focus on critical issues first.
• Gives your remote workers a hand – For businesses with remote employees, AI tools can automatically troubleshoot connectivity issues or optimise cloud services based on usage trends.

How can I make it work me?

AI-powered IT support isn’t just for the big players. A lot of platforms that support and offer this functionality are entering the market aimed at SMEs – meaning they’re affordable and designed to grow with you.

AI is more than likely the next industrial revolution – getting on board with it now will help you stay one step ahead with your IT and to pull away from your competition. What’s more, it’ll mean that you can focus on growth, knowing your IT’s running smoothly in the background.