The Value Managed IT Services Gives Your Business

Whether you’re just a small business looking to get operations moving in your chosen location, or you’re an enterprise with multiple offices across the country, one thing is universally the same: you need IT support in some capacity. As more technology is added to networks of all sizes and complexities, the need to manage this technology improves. Thankfully, you don’t necessarily have to go at it alone--you have third-party outsourcing at your disposal, which can save you both time and money in the long run.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of outsourcing, though, especially if you don’t know what the ideal way to outsource your IT looks like. Take the break-fix model as an example. Since it’s mostly responsive to your IT issues rather than preventative, you might find that it’s not quite as effective at saving your business time and money as another alternative might be. By outsourcing, you will ultimately wind up spending much more capital on resolving issues rather than preventing them outright. Furthermore, your employees who are rendered unable to work as a result of this maintenance will further increase the cost of this downtime. A more preventative approach is ideal to eliminate unnecessary waste.

When you work with a managed IT service provider like Directive, you can feel like you’re investing in your company’s future by taking a preventative approach to technology maintenance and management. By preventing issues from developing into larger, more expensive problems, you’re cutting costs by eliminating downtime and replacement expenses. Here are some ways that we can help your business save both time and money through managed IT.

• Security: If you’ve ever been the target of an online data breach, we’re sure that you never want to be on the receiving end of it again. Unfortunately, hacking attacks are so common that it can be tricky to avoid--and considering how costly and embarrassing it can be, you should be taking every opportunity to mitigate this risk. If you add in the considerable chance that your organization must comply with data privacy regulations, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t see security as a priority. Working with a managed service provider can provide the tools necessary to pull this off.
• Hardware problems: A workstation or a server unit breaking down presents a major issue for your business. Not only does this mean that your staff can’t do their work properly, but it also means that you have to replace this hardware before operations can resume. Remote monitoring and management from Directive can alleviate this problem by keeping an eye out for warning signs. This helps you avoid unexpected hardware failure and provides an opportunity to either resolve the issue, or prepare for the worst-case scenario. Either of these is better than the alternative--being unprepared entirely.
• Data backup and disaster recovery: If the entirety of your data infrastructure were to be wiped out immediately by a natural disaster, user error, or data breach, what would you do? More importantly, what would your business do in order to stay alive? If you don’t have Data Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR), you are in for a rough restoration process. Without the ability to suffer from minimal downtime and data loss, your business’ future could be in jeopardy. We can help you implement a business continuity strategy that can help you ensure the odd disaster doesn’t wipe your business off the face of the map.

For all of your business’ technology needs, and to ask us about our managed IT service offerings, reach out to Directive at 607.433.2200.