Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Economic downturn has been catalyst for SMB adoption of managed services
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 by Michael Holley
For the average small business, the experience of dealing with
the recent economic crisis has come with many lessons. For example,
we now know, more than ever, that when the chips are down, the
businesses that survive the best are those that are
forward-thinking and excessively efficient.
As an IT company, we're seeing this manifest itself via an
increased customer interest in our managed service offerings versus
the traditional break/fix support and occasional project contract.
While the concept of the managed services provider (MSP) isn't new, the benefits of adopting the MSP
model are becoming more salient:
- 24/7 Monitoring & Proactive Support - As
small businesses realize that downtime is astronomically costly,
this benefit becomes very attractive. Using remote management
software, managed service providers can monitor your systems
constantly, receiving alerts when signs of a problem first begin to
appear. This capability has given rise to proactive monitoring;
help desk technicians can swoop in and fix problems before they get
big enough to affect the work day on the client side. For example,
if a server's internal temperature gets too high, a tech from the
MSP can be alerted and can investigate the problem before the
server melts down and a crisis begins.
- Predictable Cost - MSPs tend to charge flat
monthly rates for unlimited support instead of hourly rates that
pile up quickly. Not only can businesses flawlessly budget for the
predictable monthly costs, but they can use the MSP as much as they
want without fear of incurring extra charges. It's kind of like
comparing a pre-paid cell phone plan with an unlimited calling
monthly plan. You end up paying much less per hour, and can never
run of hours. In fact, the more you use an MSP, the more you're
getting for your money. You can call them about anything. It's
literally like having an entire team of full-time IT specialists,
but at a fraction of the cost of assembling even half of such a
team internally.
- Remote Support - Most MSPs have software that
allows them to access clients' systems remotely from any
internet-enabled computer (with the user's permission, of course).
Statistics have shown that MSPs can solve 80-90% of all user issues
remotely. This means that if a user has a problem, he or she can
call or email a technician, and the technicians can initiate
connection and fix the problem instantly while the user watches!
Traditional IT firms would have to either try to walk the user
through fixing the problem over the phone or dispatch a technician
to arrive onsite. The MSP model saves time and money while creating
a very efficient and user-friendly support experience.
The MSP revolution is well underway and new technologies are being
invented every day that expand the capabilities of the MSP even
further. If you have any question about managed services or how
they might fit into your business's environment, shoot us an email
at TheFutureOfIT@switchfast.com.
Best,
Michael Holley
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Consulting
& Support
Rochester
IT Consulting & Support
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