Managed IT Services: Proactive Vs. Reactive
When it comes to health, prevention is always better than a cure. The same is true for your business’s network health. If the health of your network is not well attended by your IT personnel then you become at risk for infection. Proactive managed IT services prevent technical issues before they become emergencies. Let’s compare how the proactive model differs from a more traditional “reactive” approach to managed IT services.
Small to mid-sized businesses understand that competition is tough in today’s marketplace. Due to scale, larger enterprises can afford to invest in tools and systems to efficiently manage all parts of their network. Small businesses, on the other hand, often can’t afford that luxury. To stay competitive, SMBs are switching to proactive managed IT services to access the same range of IT expertise and insights that larger companies have in-house. This can help level the playing field between you and your big competitors.
What is Reactive IT Support?
Reactive IT support is most commonly known as the break-fix solution. Your business only receives support when something goes wrong. For instance, if your network is down and wifi is non-existent, then you would call your managed IT service provider to come onsite and fix it. With reactive support, downtime is a common occurrence because no one touches your network until something breaks down.
Another pitfall regarding reactive IT support is the lack of familiarity with the business’s IT ecosystem. The reactive managed IT service provider will have to search and figure out the source of the network outage. It could be the internet provider, power outage, an internal wiring issue, or a bad wifi connection. There is no way to know until a network tech is onsite and tests each and every possible solution. This is time-consuming and leaves room for potential human error.
What is Proactive IT Support?
Proactive managed IT services is the preferred method amongst most small to mid-sized businesses who realize just how much downtime costs them. Through advanced monitoring tools, a proactive managed IT service provider can maintain stable and secure systems without the downtime common to break-fix solutions. This type of support will usually solve IT issues BEFORE they become threats to your business’s IT infrastructure.
Proactive IT support is preventative rather than reactive. An ounce of prevention goes a long way toward stability for your small business. Regularly scheduled maintenance services are a strategic management tool for preventing network downtime. Consider the cumulative cost of a single hour of downtime across your company, and the cost of proactive IT services looks like a bargain. This mitigates the heavy cost of an emergency IT project or a downed network.
How Proactive Managed IT Services Solve The Reactive Pitfalls
Let’s take a step back and revisit that instance regarding the network outage. With the reactive approach, what are you going to do after you make a call to your IT service provider? Unfortunately, you can’t do much. Waiting is your only option until your computer is fixed. You need it to work, but now you’re just waiting until it is back up for you to use. That is downtime that your business can’t afford.
The less painful alternative would be a proactive managed IT service model–one where there are no surprise bills at the end of the month. Choose a managed service provider that covers break-fix services with a proactive solution at a predictable monthly rate. These managed services usually come with additional options such as network security, infrastructure as a service, cloud services, and backup solutions. At TechKnowledgey, we only offer IT services to suit your business's unique needs, goals, and objectives.
The Bottom Line
Each and every business must consider IT for efficiency, productivity, and savings. A proactive managed IT service provider can save valuable time and money for your business. Avoid unnecessary downtime because a network tech can’t find the needle in a haystack of IT issues. Instead of waiting until the IT problem surfaces, utilize a system that can automatically identify issues BEFORE you do.
Which would you rather have? Preparation or chaos? Choosing the latter sounds like the wisest choice for your business’s IT needs. Proactive IT support is far less stressful than a reactive (break-fix) solution. That’s why so many small to mid-sized businesses are switching to a managed IT services provider. Reactive IT support is a thing of the past–start looking toward the future!
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Boyd Smith
This article originally appeared on the TechKnowledgey Blog.
TechKnowledgey, Inc. is a midwest IT company creating successful hybrid cloud solutions, integrated IT services, and managed print services powered by IoT for their customers. TechKnowledgey services a wide reach from its headquarters in Goshen, Indiana.