May 29, 2018

The WRONG Management Strategy For Your Information Technology

The WRONG Management Strategy For Your  Information Technology

“If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”. . .  Does this apply to . . . .

  • Your car? Or do you get the oil changed even if your car is not “broke?”
  • Your health? Or do you go have a physical every year or two even if you feel fine?

Your computer network?   YIKES!  Surely not!

Companies today need to be lean, nimble and brutally efficient to survive in a competitive marketplace.  Cutting unnecessary costs is paramount.  When you’re on a tight budget, it’s too easy to accidentally strip away components of your business that seem gratuitous but are actually essential to your success.

One of the first things that often ends up on the chopping block in the frenzy to save money is IT. Instead of continually investing in managed IT services, where professionals carefully maintain, protect and update your network month to month, some businesses decide that the best way to keep their technology running smoothly is to simply leave it alone, calling up a professional only when something breaks down.

This approach forgoes monthly costs and shaves off a few dollars from your technology budget in the short term. But while this approach may seem cost-effective, it opens up your business to a huge variety of technological crises, from expensive network outages to cyber-attacks that may cripple the very future of your company.

The problems that might arise within your network are not top-of-mind (until they occur). So, it’s understandable that many business owners don’t take action until an issue becomes a serious problem. At that point, they bring in a professional who – charging by the hour – attempts to find and repair whatever may be broken.

It seems like a logical approach, but unfortunately, it’s littered with huge hidden costs. If you’re calling an IT expert only when something in your network is broken, only your most urgent technological needs are addressed. When your technician is being paid an hourly wage to fix a specific issue, there’s no incentive to be proactive with your system. They won’t recommend important, money-saving upgrades or updates, and they will rarely be able to detect a crisis before it happens.

What’s more, the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach very likely leaves huge holes in your security and drastically magnifies the costs of an IT meltdown. If they’re only arriving in the midst of crisis, there’s hardly ever an opportunity for the break-fix technician to strengthen the barriers between you and the hordes of hackers clamoring for your data. They’re on the clock, being closely monitored to fix the problem and then go away. Meanwhile, the security landscape is constantly changing, with criminals and security experts in a back-and-forth arms race to stay abreast of the latest developments. Without someone managing your system on a regular basis, your protective measures are sure to become woefully out of date and essentially useless against attack.

All too often we get a phone call from someone begging us to help mop up a costly cybersecurity disaster.    We are happy to help—but we’d much rather be on the front end, preventing such crises.  Wouldn’t you?

DON’T manage your IT as if you live in a house of sticks and only call a fireman when a bit of smoke alerts you that something may be smoldering.

Instead, manage your IT for what it is: the foundation of your employees’ productivity and a leverage to improve your services and your profitability.    

DON’T wait and call the fireman when an emergency hits (and it WILL)—instead, engage a fire warden who can inspect your foundation and prevent disasters from happening.

Need help?   Contact us at (423) 534-3418  or alison@holstonit.com


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