Technology has made its way into nearly every business, especially in 2020 with all that has been going on. There really is no choice, but with the commitment to technology there comes risk. If technology fails, your business takes a step back. Today, we will discuss how managed IT services work to manage your risk and keep your IT running effectively. 

Proactive Management

The best way to notice when things go wrong is to keep a keen eye out. That’s why proactive management starts with end-to-end monitoring. By monitoring your entire IT infrastructure you can find and fix issues before they become problems, effectively reducing profit-sapping downtime. 

 Some outsourced IT firms will only fix problems. Typically, this means that the business is already suffering. By being proactive, you eliminate the downtime, which is usually the costliest part of any technology problem. By having a strategy to mitigate issues before they can interrupt your operations, you effectively reduce your support costs. 

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Without IT support to speak of, it is on the organization to come up with a backup and recovery system to protect the digital assets a company holds. This can get pretty confusing for people who don’t typically handle this type of thing, and if it isn’t done properly, it can leave your business exposed to data loss.

 As a part of a service agreement, a managed IT services provider (MSP) will ensure that your organization’s data is incrementally (and completely) backed up onsite and in the cloud, giving you a working set of data that you can restore from for any reason, including malware, natural disaster, or simple user error.

Security Consulting

The outsourced break/fix vendor isn’t in the business of undermining their business model. That is, they fix what needs fixing and depend on technology failing and faltering so that they can come in and handle the problem. That means you are left alone to figure out what steps your organization needs to take to protect its digital assets. 

 An MSP, on the other hand, has a significantly different business model. It requires your business to prosper in order for them to be profitable, as the more time spent fixing and dealing with your IT cuts into their profitability. That’s why consulting is such a big part of an MSP’s tool kit. They want you to have solutions in place that work to protect your network and infrastructure.

The IT technicians that work in managed IT services are some of the most proficient IT professionals in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. With their experience and their willingness to understand industry best practices in compliance and network and data security, an MSP provides your business with the end-to-end security you need. They can also help with data privacy, cloud security, mobile security and more. 

Patch Management

It is crucial for every business to consistently patch their software. For businesses that use a lot of software, that is very time consuming. For the MSP, however, it is included. Not only will a competent MSP take inventory and actively monitor and manage your organization’s software, it will ensure that software is patched and updated routinely so that any vulnerabilities that are covered by developer updates are up to date. This allows you to use managed software without having to worry that there is a hole in your network by an unsupported or unpatched software title. 

Vendor Management

Another useful feature of managed IT services is vendor management. Essentially, a business has no idea how much time is spent dealing with their vendors. With a vendor management service, it takes the responsibility of meetings, sales calls, and other interactions off of a business owner or manager’s plate. The MSP will act as a single point of contact for all of your business’ technology vendors, freeing your people up to focus on the administration and operation of your business.

 Managed IT service is one of the most valuable services you can employ for your business. It will often pay for itself in the amount of downtime you eliminate. If you would like to talk to one of Argentum IT’s consultants today about getting an outsourced IT provider you can trust, give us a call at (502) 473-6407.