Picture the scene. You’ve just arrived at your office (home or otherwise), have made yourself your first cup of coffee, and are ready to start a productive day of work. You turn on your machine, open up Outlook, and wait for the emails to start flooding in. But they don’t. No internet connection, your computer touts, displaying an annoying little yellow exclamation mark that seems to be mocking you. You open your browser, and learn that it’s true. The internet is dead. You phone your colleague, and they’re out too. You get hold of your IT support company and they’re as clueless as you are as to why everything’s offline. It could take an hour to resolve, could take a day. What now?
The truth is, most companies recognise that there’s a problem too late. By the time they realise that something’s wrong, downtime is inevitable, and there’s no option to continue working without productivity taking a hit. And being without internet for a day and a half is the least of your worries. What if your servers go down? Or your phone systems? Or you’re a target of a cyber attack?
What you need is proactive IT support.
What Does Proactive Active Support Mean ?
It’s all well and good to say that your company is realising there’s a problem too late. But when it comes down to it, you’re focusing your efforts exactly where they should be focused – on your company goals. Any time that you spend worrying about your technology is time wasted, especially when you have an IT team, or work with an IT company, whose whole role is managing your systems.
But the trouble is that almost all IT teams are reactive. You tell them that there’s a problem, and they fix it. They troubleshoot, they find solutions as quickly as they can, and they plug holes. Every problem that arises takes them out of their day-to-day operations, and sees them resorting to panic mode, and putting out fires rather than focusing on furthering your business.
And we’re embarrassed to say that this is the case whether you’ve got your own internal IT team, or are using most IT companies for external support.
So, what’s the difference between reactive vs. proactive IT support?
Companies that focus on proactive IT support services are few and far between, but they are out there. Proactive IT is all about monitoring your systems and making sure that you are aware of potential problems before they occur. Giving you the chance to do something about them.
How Reliable and Proactive IT Can Change Your Business
When you partner with an IT company that understand the importance of proactive IT, you will start to notice changes in the way you work, and the way your business runs, almost immediately.
You’ll find yourself worrying less, and focussing more on the core areas of your company. You’ll have greater peace of mind, knowing that your IT works seamlessly and can be relied on, rather than worrying about the next outage that you might experience. And you’ll know that your technology is working for you, rather than just being a tool that you use. It is helping your company to grow and progress, rather than just being a means to an end.
You’ll find yourself with more time to do the things that matter most. Whether that means spending more time building your company culture, or spending more time with your family and the people who mean the most to you. And your team members will feel it too. They’ll be less stressed, less frustrated, and more productive and efficient instead.
This peace of mind and reduction in stress will be passed along to your customers as well, resulting in improved client experiences and increased client satisfaction. Which will have a knock-on effect, and happier clients have a tendency to recommend your business to others, seeing it grow from strength to strength.
Your business as a whole will benefit from improved security. Your teams will have a better understanding of their role in keeping your company safe, and there will be less threat of vulnerabilities leading to downtime. All because updates and upgrades will be taken care of before they can develop into risks that threaten your business continuity. And even if an unpredictable disaster does occur that takes your business offline, you’ll have planned disaster recovery to ensure you’re back on line ASAP.
And, one of the biggest benefits of all, you’ll be able to better predict expenses, and see increased profits instead. Because proactive IT support means knowing ahead of time where you might need to spend, and spending less time and money putting last-minute solutions in place to bring your business back online.
5 Signs That Your Partner Prioritises Proactive IT Support
The benefits of proactive IT support are plentiful, but how can you tell whether an IT company is prioritising proactive support? Many an IT company in South Africa will say they do on their website, but what are the indications that you’ve found the right IT support provider to see your business succeed? There are 5 telling signs to look out for:
1. They're working with you to create a strategic technology plan
A proactive IT support provider will want to understand your business and your tech requirements from the get-go. They’ll want to know about your goals as a company, because this will help them to put a strategic technology plan in place that will work for your unique needs.
2. They monitor your network 24/7
You’ll rarely have to come to them with issues, because they’ll already be monitoring your systems round-the-clock. They’ll have alerts in place that let them (and you) know about any critical issues, and they’ll resolve them wherever possible without you even knowing that anything’s amiss.
3. You don't have to ask them to perform updates and patches
Keeping your apps and software up to date is part and parcel of the service that they offer, and they’ll proactively run updates and patches as soon as they become available. This will keep your systems protected against all types of IT threats, ensuring that attackers won’t even have the opportunity to take advantage of vulnerabilities.
4. They talk to you about what your future looks like
With proactive IT support, it’s not necessarily the here and now that matters, but what could happen in future. The right, proactive IT support company will work with you to understand where you see yourself in 5 years, in 10, and ensure that your technology can get you there, or that you are well prepared (and are budgeting) for future enhancements.
5. Your productivity is skyrocketing
With no IT concerns to distract you and your teams from your day-to-day tasks, productivity will skyrocket. Your employees will have access to all of the resources that they need without any connectivity hiccups, and will be able to focus all of their efforts and energy on your business.
Here's How Solid Systems Can Help
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we know a little bit about what proactive IT support can do for a business like yours. It’s because proactive support is where we thrive. We have been offering IT consulting services and proactive IT services to business around South Africa and the world for more than 20 years, and we can’t wait to help your company take advantage of the best that IT has to offer. So, if you’re ready to jump straight in, book a consult with me, and I’ll be happy to show you the difference that proactive IT support can make.
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