Did you know that the average employee loses almost half an hour of productivity each day due to IT-related issues? Over the course of the year, all of this time mounts up, leading employees to typically lose two weeks’ worth of productivity to issues like downtime, system failures and application freezes.
We all know that time is money. Putting this into the context of your revenue, let’s say your business employs 20 people who earn an average hourly wage of $19/hr, then in terms of staffing costs, the organization would be losing about $2,000 a month, let alone the potential to generate more turnover!
No Time For IT Issues
The pace of work today is faster than it has ever been before. Technology is amazing for improving efficiency and productivity but, when IT goes wrong, you can lose a lot of money in a short space of time. What’s more, IT problems can have a huge ripple effect on things like employee satisfaction, the customer experience and even supplier relationships.
You need to be always be connected in order to deliver the best service. However, many smaller businesses don’t have the budget for in-house IT support, which is why so many look to external IT providers to help them to overcome IT issues and improve the use of technology in their companies.
When you look for an outsourced IT provider, you’ll generally find there are two main types of providers, those that are “reactive,” and those that are “proactive.”
What Is The Reactive IT Support Model?
The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” sums up the reactive IT support model quite nicely. With this kind of service, your IT provider will only step in to offer support after an IT issue has occurred. For example, if you have a faulty printer or you are suffering network issues, your IT provider will take a look at the problem and attempt to fix it for you.
Sounds great in theory, right? Sadly there are many shortcomings to this approach. For one, this approach to IT tends to result in lengthy periods of downtime as your provider attempts to figure out what has went wrong and then fix it. Sometimes, this process can take weeks, which costs you a lot of money. Treating symptoms as they come up, without proactively addressing potential root causes, is an inefficient way to provide IT support; moreover, the reactive approach can tend to miss out on creating opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and security.
Furthermore, the reactive model tends to go hand-in-hand with ad-hoc billing, which can make it harder to plan your financial forecasts in a precise way. Additionally, hourly support billing can remove the incentive for the provider to provide a speedy reolution, as the longer the issue takes to fix, the more they can charge.
What Is The Proactive IT Support Model?
The opposite of reactive IT support is proactive support, which is all about attempting to discover and triage potential issues before they can turn into headaches that stop a business in its tracks. IT providers achieve this by putting in place clever automated solutions that monitor the health of your IT assets in real-time. These solutions alert your IT provider to potential issues, so that they can be addressed preemptively.
Because proactive IT support is more in-depth, holistic, and constant, your business will suffer less IT problems and less downtime, meaning your employees will be more productive and efficient.
At the same time, proactive IT support is great for enhancing cybersecurity. A good IT provider will not only monitor the technical health of your infrastructure, they’ll also keep an eye out for potential malicious intrusions and cyber-attacks, so you no longer have to worry about threats like ransomware or data theft. A proactive provider does their homework, and takes action on potential threats in the wider digital landscape.
Which Should My Business Go For?
Ultimately, we recommend a blend of both approaches for optimum IT support. You want a provider who will proactively monitor your IT assets, while also offering reactive support should something suddenly go wrong.
Beware, though, that many IT providers say they offer proactive support when their service is actually reactive. You can weed out these companies by reviewing their services in more detail. Some things to consider to help you to identify a proactive IT provider include:
- They take a consultative approach, offering suggestions about how you can use IT to enhance productivity and efficiency
- They think about IT within the context of your business. They won’t just fix what’s gone wrong. They’ll talk about how you can use IT to drive business value
- They monitor your infrastructure proactively with automated tools and software that identify issues in real-time. They report and action on them before they become a problem.
Proactive Managed I.T. Support Services Edmonton
For over 30 years, Tier 3 I.T. Solutions has been proudly delivering Proactive Managed I.T. Support Services to businesses in Edmonton and its surrounding areas. Through digital innovation, proactive support, and a personalized approach tailored to each new client, we strive to empower businesses for success in Edmonton and beyond.
Our Support Specialists not only resolve pressing technical issues but also coach your users for improved efficiency. Tier 3 I.T. Solutions is dedicated to minimizing technology interruptions amid digital expansion in Edmonton. As the most reviewed IT Services Provider in the Edmonton area, we value our 97%+ ticket satisfaction rating dearly. Curious to learn more and receive expert guidance? Reach out to us today!
