One of the biggest and most positive ways managed IT services benefits a company is with first-class automation processes and proactive monitoring. Managed IT services can cut IT costs by as much as 40 percent while doubling operational efficiency, according to this article on managed services markets.
Now, let’s take a journey for a moment. Imagine you’ve had the worst day of your life at work. Nothing you did was right and all you can think about is getting home. The clock finally hits 5:00, you grab your things, and dash out of the office. Once in your car, you turn the key and the sound of a dying cat hits your ears. No, you haven’t just killed a cat, but your car isn’t starting and that sound is coming from under the hood. After the third twist of the key, your car finally sputters to life. All you want is to get home, so you throw it into reverse and hope you can make it to your garage.
As you’re backing out, you hear a ding. Looking at the dash reveals your gas tank is empty. Of course. But there should be enough to get home. You navigate out of the parking lot and onto the street. Not one minute later, sprinkles fall from the sky, and soon turn to big drops. You flip on your windshield wipers, only to remember (too late!) that they need replaced. As they scrape across your windshield, all they do is smear dirt and water while scratching the glass. You can hardly see.
Thanks to your impaired vision, you can’t see the huge pothole ahead. You hit it full-on, and the sound alone is traumatizing. And now your car is pulling to the left, hard. You definitely messed up the alignment with that one. Couldn’t anything else happen?
Yep. You finally reach your street, your driveway, and your garage. As you pull inside, the motor makes another bizarre sound before giving out. Warning lights pop up all over the dashboard, and the Check Engine light is flashing.
But you’re home, and that’s all that matters. You get out of the car, head inside, and have an amazing evening with your family. The last thing on your mind when you go to sleep that night is the car in the garage.
While you sleep, a professional NASCAR pit crew heads into your garage. They fill up the gas tank, replace the windshield and the wipers, fix the alignment on the tires, run a diagnostic check and fix the engine, detail the interior, and give it a good wash. Your car is as good as new in the morning when you head to work.
Think about managed IT in the same way. Your business network is the car, and throughout the day it takes hits from all the use. When 5:00 o’clock rolls around, we can bet you don’t want to be sitting at the office trying to patch up all your digital infrastructure, right? You just want to get home.
By partnering with a managed IT service provider, you no longer have to worry about it. When you head home, your network gets all the pampering and fixing it needs in order to run smoothly for your employees the next day.
Automated patch management makes sure the necessary patches are being installed and maintained, preventing vulnerabilities from appearing in your network. According to Information Age’s article on why your business can’t afford not to patch, failing to keep security patches up to date is the cause of half of all system vulnerabilities.
Automated disk clean-ups clean up the clutter and help your equipment run efficiently. Automated restarts clear the bottlenecks that were created throughout the day and open up the network paths for more productive working.
And automated ticket creation and escalation means if there’s a more serious problem that needs the attention of a technician, you don’t have to send up a smoke signal. The technician is automatically notified and working on it before you even know there’s an issue.
Sounds pretty nice, huh?
And let’s not forget the proactive monitoring that happens 24/7. Even during the day, your network infrastructure is being closely watched to make sure nothing takes you or your company down. In CSO’s report on cybersecurity facts, figures and statistics for 2018, cyber crime damage costs are estimated to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021. The good news is, your managed IT service provider knows exactly what to look for, how to deal with issues, and works behind the scenes to ensure your company technology runs optimally.
