Many small businesses take the if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach to their IT. When it does break, they quickly move into a reactive mode to solve the problem. If this is your approach, have you ever considered how much unplanned downtime costs your business? If you believe that proactive IT with either a managed service provider (MSP) on retainer or an IT person on staff costs more than just fixing issues, you may be surprised. Plus, when you have a technology policy and plan, you have a more resilient and future ready business.
Costs of Reactive IT
As much as you hope that you have everything you need in place; network security, data backup, and the right equipment, failures happen. These failures negatively impact your business in three primary ways. We like to call them the 3 Ps.
- Productivity – Whether it’s one team member’s computer that won’t work or a down server or worse, your overall productivity falls for the day, week, or as long as it takes to get everyone back up and running.
- Profits – When your team can’t do their job, you still pay them. If your clients can’t pay invoices or purchase your goods, you’ve lost income – either permanently or temporarily. Plus, when you have an emergency and don’t have an MSP or IT company on retainer or contract with you, chances are good that you’ll pay more per hour than you would if you have an established relationship, which further erodes profits.
- Peace of Mind – A security breach or stolen laptop can lead erode of peace of mind. What personal data is now out there? How will your customers feel when you inform that their information may have been compromised? Lack of trust can lead to lost clients.
When you treat your IT security, network, and computers using the you’ll fix it when there’s a problem approach, you will not only spend more money but also lose more and potentially put your business’s reputation at risk.
Proactive IT Benefits
When you work with an MSP, have an IT department, or both, their job is to actively monitor your network and machines to prevent cyber-attacks, data loss, and other security breaches. This can include, but isn’t limited to regular monitoring, schedule data backups, network testing, software updating, and overall performance. Together these steps reduce the chances of compromised or lost data. When your MSP or IT manager understands your business both today and goals for the future, they can work to plan for change. These changes may be new software or hardware, additional bandwidth, or better security.
Toucan Technology Group Can Be Your MSP
Whether you need our team to be your IT managers or want us to partner with your IT staff, we’re the Indianapolis managed service provider trusted for nearly two decades. With our proactive IT approach, we’ll help you save money, keep your hardware and software updated, improve network and equipment efficiency, and provide unparalleled security solutions. If it’s time to shift to a proactive IT approach, call Toucan Technology Group today for your free consultation at (317) 376-4874 or fill out our contact form today.
