Investing in proactive I.T. strategies can save your company money and boost operational efficiency
Reactive I.T. or proactive I.T.? These are two approaches to managing your company’s I.T. infrastructure. Does it matter? Yes. We’ll explain how adopting a proactive strategy will direct your company toward seeking continuous I.T. improvement.
Counting the cost and considering the loss
Taking a reactive I.T. approach to dealing with potential issues seems reasonable. Why fix something that isn’t broken? But there’s a problem with this thinking: With I.T., it’s not a matter of if something breaks but when. When something breaks in your system, and you take a reactive I.T. approach, you need to consider the following:
- The cost of each service ticket — possibly a huge one from multiple tickets to resolve issues.
- Loss of productivity from time spent fixing problems.
- Loss of revenue because your company may be unable to function from breakdowns in your I.T. infrastructure.
- Potential issues might be too much to handle at one time (hard to scale).
- If there’s a cybersecurity breach, you must deal with the fallout that occurs.
- Loss of confidence in the company because of data breaches or constant I.T. failure.
- Fluctuations in I.T. budgets because of dealing with whatever problems that arise.
- Problems can overburden and burn out support teams.
So, let’s consider a proactive I.T. management approach. By taking active and regular steps to prevent potential I.T. issues before they happen, you would create a stable I.T. budget for your business. Investing in regular updates, monitoring, and maintenance increases predictability and minimizes emergency I.T. spending.
Fixing I.T. problems or issues doesn’t just cost time and effort. They also cost money. Sometimes a lot of it, depending on the problem. So why stay in a reactive/defensive mode with your I.T. infrastructure? The best protection for your company is prevention. Focusing on prevention helps your company seek constant improvement, with benefits such as I.T. cost optimization.
Aiming for prevention and reducing risks
Proactive I.T. isn’t just some ethereal concept. Its approach is efficient. It’s simply about using I.T. preventive measures to stop (or at least minimize) problems before they occur. However, constant action and monitoring are the key to ensuring these steps succeed. So, what are these steps? Some of these proactive I.T. measures are:
- Regular system updates to improve I.T. system reliability
- Active awareness of potential cybersecurity threats.
- Constant data backups
- Regular network monitoring with a preventive mindset
- Regular cybersecurity training for employees or contractors
When you constantly update your system, you minimize opportunities for malicious hackers who wish to take down your company’s I.T. and cause system failures. But how would you know what system updates you would need to safeguard your organization? One way is to check the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security and Alliance (CISA) website.
Also, performing constant data backups will help prevent (or at least minimize) data loss. Constant backups should be at least several times a day. Why leave your system vulnerable to complete crashes, viruses, or ransomware without any way to retrieve your data quickly?
Also, constantly monitoring your network with a preventive mindset helps you better identify potential gaps and weak spots. When you look for ways to strengthen the health and reliability of your network, you’re constantly improving your network.
Cybersecurity awareness is also crucial with a proactive I.T. approach. By having regular security training for your employees or contractors, you can help them understand the practices they need to follow to avoid potential problems. Having regular cybersecurity training and awareness helps your company seek constant improvement.
Investing in proactive I.T. is a big win overall
Besides creating stable I.T. budgets, by investing in preventative steps, you end up doing the following:
- Minimizing service ticket costs or eliminating them from regular updates, regular I.T. maintenance plans, and monitoring.
- Reducing chances of cybersecurity breaches because of regular training and other active safeguards.
- Minimizing the costs of data recovery efforts.
- Increasing system reliability because of routine prevention.
- Tackling issues becomes more manageable.
- Minimizing loss of productivity and business revenue from increased I.T. operational efficiency.
- Promoting a culture of seeking constant improvement.
With a reactive I.T. approach, your company’s downtime increases because the focus is on waiting for issues to happen. When there’s serious downtime, you can miss opportunities to expand or improve your business. So, a reactive I.T. approach hinders your business rather than helping it grow.
Taking a proactive I.T. approach reduces downtime by taking active steps to prevent problems before they occur. This also allows you to focus on opportunities to help you expand your business and actively find ways to improve it. So, a proactive I.T. approach grows your business because your company is focused on constant improvement, expansion, and adapting to any challenges.
Creating a proactive I.T. plan leads to seeking constant improvement
The key to proactive I.T. is active planning and commitment to follow through. You need to create a methodical, preventative plan to make this happen. This should include:
- Regularly assessing the current I.T. health of your company.
- Establishing a relationship with a trusted Managed Service Provider (MSP).
- Scheduling regular check-ups with the MSP to evaluate your I.T. infrastructure.
A proactive plan to prevent problems will help your business seek continuous I.T. improvement. When you proactively adjust your plan, you help your business become more agile to overcome changing business needs and technology landscapes. Your plan will drive your business to constantly evaluate and improve its infrastructure until it becomes second nature. If you’re not sure how to create a proactive I.T. plan, contact your MSP.
Take a step forward proactive I.T. with Attentus
Going from a reactive I.T. approach to a proactive one will help you save money, especially with service costs, and improve your business operation overall. Taking a proactive approach to I.T. management services frees your resources in other areas so that you can drive your business toward thriving and expansion. Stepping towards proactive I.T. support services is a no-brainer.
At Attentus, one of our core values is seeking constant improvement. We believe perfection is elusive, but seeking improvement is the path to perfection. This means we are honest with ourselves about how we perform for our clients, partners, and team members. Every interaction is an opportunity to ask ourselves how we did and how we can be better.
If you don’t have an MSP and need help creating a proactive I.T. plan, contact Attentus. We will help you every step of the way.
