We’re Going to Get You Out of the Technology Rut

Is the technology your business relies upon composed of bits and pieces of tech you’ve incorporated gradually over the years? While all of your computers and devices may work, are they actually working for you? Your investment into IT was supposed to make your staff more productive—is it, or has it plateaued?

Is Your Business’ Technology Still Working For You?

That’s the million-dollar question.

Many businesses, especially businesses operating for a long time, have most likely cobbled together years (if not decades) of technology. While the adage, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” does have merit, when it comes to technology, it can be a risky mindset to have.

We’re not saying you need to completely do away with a perfectly good workstation that’s still performing well for the sake of spending more money, but your IT budget should be mapped out to include an upgrade strategy.

Technology is constantly evolving, and what was top-of-the-line even a few years ago may have become a bottleneck to your productivity today. Additionally, best practices in communication, cybersecurity, and collaboration are evolving as well. 

“But I Have Internal IT Staff to Handle That”

Even if you have in-house IT staff, they might not be able to keep up with the latest best practices because they are busy keeping your network up and running, providing support, etc. Their focus and commitment to keeping the status quo may blind them to areas of weakness and where improvements can help your business’ technology. There’s nothing really wrong with this—that’s why you hired them.

Instead of remaining stagnant, your organization can benefit from a second set of eyes to take a critical look at your business’ technology. This where co-managed IT comes in. We’re not out to eliminate your technical staff—we can supplement their work and help them, or prevent you from needing to bring on additional IT staff. In other words, co-managed IT can help your business get past the technology roadblocks which may be preventing your business from reaching its full potential. 

When you work with Directive, you gain access to IT professionals who spend the entire workday managing a single network. Our staff is always learning and working with new technologies that someone on your payroll might not be exposed to. This is huge because it allows us to determine the right solution without being held back by convenience or familiarity.

We can’t stress enough though—if your network is well-maintained and your users generally get the support they need to do their work, your internal IT staff is probably serving you pretty well. If you have constant problems or deal with downtime, or aren’t sure if you are meeting certain compliance standards, then you have a whole other set of issues on your hands (that we can help with too). The point is, we’re not out to send your IT staff packing, we’re here to save you money and help make them more effective.

How Co-Managed IT Can Help Your Business

A Modern Look at Cybersecurity: Co-managed IT benefits your organization's existing cybersecurity protocols by bringing the best data protection practices into place. Unless you are providing training and certifications to your internal IT staff, they probably aren’t staying up-to-date on the latest ways to protect your business. We can help you make meaningful changes to existing cybersecurity practices. Some of these changes include:

• Implementing 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication)
• Enforcing Password Management
• Creating data access privilege protocols

The biggest threat to your business continues to be cybersecurity attacks, and by enacting these three basic cybersecurity steps, you reduce the chance of a cyberattack being successful.

It Brings Wisdom-Sharing: Co-managed IT brings with it access to some of the best IT experts available at an attractive price point. A side benefit of co-managed IT is that by interacting with our team of experienced IT professionals, your team can learn from the best and adopt best practices that benefit your business in the long term.

We Let Your IT Team Prioritize Tasks: The reality is all businesses have a “wishlist;” a list of projects they would like to do if only they had the time, resources, or expertise needed to get the project started, let alone completed. Unfortunately, more often than not, a business’ wish list remains just that, wishes. When you invest in Co-managed IT, you will find your wishlist can become a reality. Your Co-managed IT team can take over those tasks your team never had the time for, while your IT department continues to focus on the project that requires their full attention.

As mentioned, the goal of co-managed IT isn’t to replace your existing IT department, and in many ways, co-managed IT performs a similar function as a Virtual CIO. These services provide your team with access to a wide range of business technology experience, education, and certification training. Managed IT’s monthly flat-rate billing allows your business to benefit from enterprise-level expertise without having to invest the financial commitment to training or new hires. 

Is Your Business In an IT Rut?

Do you feel that your technology has grown stagnant and isn’t providing your business or your customers with the expectations they deserve? Is your lack of growth due to feeling because of your size and budget, your organization can’t invest the resources needed to compete against enterprise-level competitors? 

Call Directive today at 607.433.2200. We’ve been working alongside the area’s most demanding businesses—we’re used to complex environments, businesses with multiple locations and facilities, and businesses with unique technology challenges. We’d be happy to discuss what we can do to take your business to the next level.