Many businesses we meet for our free consultation will tell us they are not ready to invest in a managed service provider or a monthly service agreement to support their IT needs. The reasons will vary, but the underlying objective is usually centered around a desire to defer the expense of IT support. But what about the cost of trying to do it yourself – lost man hours, inexperienced support, security breaches, reactive response to problems, or unrecoverable systems or data.
LOST MAN HOURS – You are in business to support your customers, not to support your computer systems. The hours spent trying to research a problem, applying potential fixes in a trial-by-error fashion, or providing escort for a service provider to come onsite. Each of these scenarios directs your efforts to problem that is outside your area of expertise.
INEXPERIENCED SUPPORT – Some business owners have either family members or friends that are “IT” smart. In this scenario, you are not the priority, and services are delivered at the convenience of your family member or friend. In addition, someone who is “IT” smart is not necessarily trained, certified, or experienced with supporting the networks, systems, and applications in your business. This scenario potentially places business owers at risk for extended computer network downtimes or delayed responses to reported problems.
SECURITY BREACHES – Turning a blind eye to the problem of preventing network threats and reducing network vulnerabilities does not solve the problem. Many security breaches and other network threats do not present themselves for the user to see, and may give business owners a false sense of security. Threats come in many forms and require multiple layers of protection to ensure systems and data remain secure and protected.
REACTIVE RESPONSE TO PROBLEMS – Many business owners and their IT providers may not know there is a problem until users report it. This model of support results in small problems turning into major catastrophes. By not proactively monitoring and repairing issues real-time, these errors have a propensity to compound themselves into larger problems; which will ultimately cost more to repair and could lead to data loss.
UNRECOVERABLE SYSTEMS OR DATA – Ever wonder what you would do if you lost client information, financial data, medical records, proprietary materials, or other Personally Identifiable Information (PII). How long would it take to rebuild the lost data from scratch? What is the potential legal impact of losing data? Many business owners have a false sense of security – the data has always been there and we have never experienced a problem. In the world of Risk Management, this strategy is classified as avoidance.
So, what is the cost of doing IT yourself in comparison to a managed service provider delivering a monthly IT support? You will face lost man hours trying to fix the problem yourself, increased frequency or severity of system downtime, unresponsive or delayed support, increased risk to security and data, and an added level of stress that comes from simply ‘not knowing’.
Contact Reveille Systems today to schedule your free consultation. Rising to serve your technology needs, so you don’t have to!
