External threats are ongoing and becoming increasingly sophisticated, requiring ongoing vigilance and maintenance. As security breaches appear to be more common with more and more companies identified as victims of attacks in recent months, customers need confidence that their systems are secure – as the negative impact on a customer’s business or reputation due to data loss or corrupted systems could be immeasurable.
Just like larger companies, small businesses need technology to operate efficiently and to compete effectively. But as reliance on IT grows, the resources needed to support this increasingly complex IT environment may not. In many small businesses, IT resources are limited and can be quickly overwhelmed.
Benefits of Managed Services
The biggest benefits of Managed Services is discovering and fixing problems before they can negatively affect your business. You can expect:
Managed Services is not just a short-lived fad, it is a way for businesses to eliminate problems before they ever occur, manage their IT budgets better, and create a solid long-term partnership with CSPI that is protecting one of their most important assets…. their data.
Managed Services vs. Break-Fix Mentality
Managed Services provides a philosophical change in the way that a business deals with its technology. Instead of following the old-school tradition of break-fix (literally meaning wait until the server, desktops or other critical networking devices fail, then scramble to fix them), a business operating with managed services focuses on the prevention of these issues before they disrupt employees, management and/or members.
Today, no business can really afford the risk and uncertainty of relying on a “Break-fix maintenance service” because your business is too dependent on having a reliable IT system.
Software patching is part of a strong security profile
If you fall behind in keeping up with things such as patches and security, the odds greatly increase that you’ll face an IT outage or another problem down the road that will negatively impact your business. For instance, if your Email server, financial application or network goes down, you will likely face substantial productivity and revenue losses as a result.
The need for robust IT security is even more critical when considering the complexity of most IT environments, with products from multiple vendors, and dozens of business processes affecting a variety of audiences (employees, customers, partners). It’s not just one component or element of IT that must be secured. The entire stack – from operating systems, to hardware, to databases, middleware and applications – must be bulletproof, because it only takes one weak link to bring IT to a screeching halt.
