For some IT service providers that operate on an hourly rate, proactively monitoring their client’s networks can be a challenge.
Most small business owners know that to get the most out of their network, it needs to be maintained and monitored. However, when there is an hourly fee involved in this process when everything seems to be running well, emotions can sometimes overtake rational and proactive maintenance is usually put off.
Appropriate proactive monitoring & maintenance of your network will improve productivity, increase the reliability of your systems and could even save money with IT support costs.
A proactive maintenance plan can include:
- Server event log monitoring
- Antivirus updates and system health monitoring
- Monitoring on-site or remote backup status
- Monitoring firewall activity & hack/spam attempts
- Monitoring system bottlenecks
- Monitoring applications
- Real-time inventory
- Active remote support
The main benefits of proactively monitoring your network are:
1. Disaster prevention
Most IT problems display some warning signs before becoming a major issue, but if left unchecked could quickly turn into a crisis situation. There could be serious and possibly unrecoverable losses to your company. Proactive monitoring gives us the ability to see and prevent unexpected emergencies.
2. Improving productivity
Besides being able to potentially save your company from disaster, proactive monitoring will also be able to improve your company’s performance. Too often the performance of equipment is allowed to deteriorate to the point where the device is no longer usable or functional. We can help you to improve your productivity by being able to closely examine inventory reports for inadequate or outdated equipment and applications and perform necessary upgrades before productivity can suffer.
3. Taking Charge
Monitoring should be performed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our IT technicians get immediately notified whenever something occurs that needs attention.
With proactive monitoring, we can identify small problems and correct them early before they can develop into large issues. At Advanced Technology we provide our clients with useful feedback which enables them to be in control of their IT setup.
4. Saving Money
If you average out the hourly support cost long-term and then take into account the good and the bad times, the average monthly cost should be somewhat reasonable for both the computer consultant and the customer. Just imagine how devastating a large invoice caused by a disaster can be to a client who has already suffered with financial stress and downtime. Forward-thinking and a solid strategy by your IT company can easily prevent this from happening.
When you think of the benefits, the active prevention of major disasters and the convenience of a flat-rate fee, proactively monitoring your networks can easily be justified as a valuable and cost-effective solution.
