If you’re like most people, you don’t think about your technology until it breaks. When something starts breaking repeatedly and frequently, i.e. server downtime or workstations crashing, it becomes a constant worry in the back of your mind and takes up all your time. That’s no way to get to sleep at night.
8 Gaps in Your Technology That are Costing You Money
Experiencing a rare computer crash or short-lived internet outage here and there is not to be confused with a gap in your technology.
Gaps in your technology are often highlighted by the recurring or frequent issues that are impossible to ignore. Stating the obvious, these gaps in your technology are costly, whether they’re draining your budget, pinching productivity or keeping your attention on tasks that your IT should have well in hand.
Those issues might look like these:
- Your often-used applications work more slowly than usual for an extended period.
- The time it takes to retrieve and open a single file seems to be growing longer.
- You find yourself the target of repeated cyber-attacks (successful or not, this is a gap).
- It seems that software installed on your workstations isn’t useful in your day-to-day work. It might even impede it.
- Support time is significantly lengthy or lagging, leaving your employees on hold for simple fixes or waiting days for recurring challenges.
- You’ve lost data because of a technology failure or cyber-attack (attacks aren’t 100% preventable, but data loss is).
- It seems that your IT support hinges on a single person.
- There’s not strategy behind your IT support.
These are all often the unintended result of someone with too little expertise strategizing, implementing, supporting, maintaining and managing your technology. If they officially hold another position in your company, they have the added pressure of too little time.
Trust us: managing your IT is a full-time job. And it takes more than one person to do it well.
Addressing the Gap in Your IT Management
There are typically three routes you can go with when addressing these gaps:
Shoring up your internal staff. Sometimes these issues are happening because of an overburdened internal IT staff, or a one-man jack-of-all-trades. It’s challenging to oversee the layers of strategy, planning and execution that go into a sustainable technology environment. Sometimes, IT managers can use a managed service provider (MSP) to augment the needs, troubleshoot recurring issues and put the strategies in place that are needed.
Outsourcing IT. Outsourcing your information technology management to an IT managed service provider (MSP) is the most sensible step to getting these issues in check and getting people back to work. When you outsource, you get a team of experts for less than having 1 or 2 IT generalists on staff, and should be able to count on them to keep the machines running more effectively. Whether or not it solves all your problems depends on who you go with. For more information on why your should think about using a managed service provider, watch the video below:
Change providers. A good managed service provider with expertise in strategic planning and a proven track record working with businesses like yours will help you plan your technology investments around your business goals rather than just keep your IT limping along and making upgrades only when absolutely necessary. Moreover, an experienced and trustworthy MSP will ensure the technological hiccups you do experience aren’t indicative of a deeper problem. Remember, planning – along with preventative support and maintenance and a reliable helpdesk –can prevent many of your technology gaps from becoming bigger problems.
It’s amazing the number of IT issues you can prevent if you partner with a professional, expert-staffed managed service provider.
How Applied Tech Stacks Up
With over 60 staff with technical expertise across multiple disciplines, Applied Tech has the extensive depth and breadth to help businesses overcome challenges large and small – once and for all. Working with a dedicated account manager, companies big and small have access to strategic planning, full managed IT service and peace of mind. Here’s what a couple of our clients share about us:
“Knowing that Applied Tech is constantly monitoring our server and workstations allows me to focus on the strategic issues of our business. Encore is quite pleased with the service and expertise of Applied Tech and looks forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.” -Jeffrey Jaschinski, CFO (Encore Construction, Inc)
It was enough keeping up with making a call to our old tech provider every time there was a problem. Now with Applied Tech and TechCare®, someone else is monitoring problems before they happen and I get a call or email about an issue. That’s the way it should be!” -Phil Ouellete, President (Lindsay, Stone, & Briggs)
Contact Applied Tech or at 608.729.1300 today to learn how we can support your business’ IT.
