How To, Managed Services

How to Choose Tech Support

One thing that every growing business needs to prioritize in today’s always-on world is proper technology management. Modern companies rely on their IT infrastructure to complete almost every day-to-day process, including communicating with customers, storing data and networking.

 

As customers depend more and more on constant digital connectivity for their products and services, modern businesses are responding by developing more robust infrastructures that can handle always-on support. This requires comprehensive IT support that can be accessed any time of the day or night to ensure you can always stay up and running.

 

Without the right IT support, businesses can easily find themselves dealing with extended periods of downtime that put work to a halt and cost them thousands of dollars. It’s critical that your business finds a company that offers the right round-the-clock support for your business needs.

 

A Rise in Cybercrime

Cybercrime is a growing concern in today’s business world. Criminals are using the fact that people are constantly connected through technology to their advantage, hacking, stealing data, and blackmailing large organizations. Levels of cybercrime are increasing all of the time, with the average cost of cybercrime for an organization increasing to $13.0 million over the past year and the average number of security breaches in the last year rising by 11%.

This growth in cybercrime has seen more businesses realizing that they can no longer simply rely on break/fix IT support, or waiting for an IT issue to arise before calling someone to fix it. To truly reduce the risk of cybercrime and keep your customer’s data safe, you need someone monitoring your systems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, proactively detecting and patching vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers.

Without continuous monitoring, your business cannot claim to be secure. Zero-day vulnerabilities and other weaknesses in your systems can easily go unnoticed without constant IT monitoring. The cost is great financial and reputational damage, not to mention the costs associated with downtime that can also be caused by undetected backend issues.

 

The Benefits of Tech Support

While your business may have specific operating hours, IT problems don’t. Without effective round-the-clock support, your business is at risk.

A 24/7/365 approach to tech support also means that your team has more time to focus on business tasks. They aren’t wasting time addressing frequent IT issues because these issues are largely prevented by 24/7/365 monitoring and maintenance. This can increase productivity enormously, saving your business more money.

Additionally, continuous IT support leads to a considerable reduction in downtime caused by IT issues and security threats. Through constant monitoring, devices can spot the root cause of downtime, stopping it in its tracks before it turns into a loss of income.

 

Finding the Right Support for Your Business

The advantages of getting tech support are clear, but finding the best provider for your business can still be a challenge. Just because a provider offers round-the-clock monitoring doesn’t mean they offer the services your business needs.

Look for a Managed Service Provider (MSP) who offers continuous support, as well. While devices that monitor your systems at all times of the day and night are highly effective for patching weaknesses, businesses who operate 24/7 need constant access to onsite and remote support from their provider. That way, even if downtime happens after normal business hours, your provider can extend support and get you up-and-running in no time.

You’ll also want to choose an MSP who offers advanced cybersecurity and compliance services, not a company that will simply install anti-virus software and monitor your systems for existing issues. Basic support can be a waste of your hard-earned money. Instead, you need someone who can implement comprehensive cybersecurity plans and ensure your business remains compliant with regulations such as HIPAA for healthcare organizations or PCI-DSS for most other businesses.

 

As you seek the right tech support, the most important thing to keep in mind is how your provider can best meet your business needs. It’s important that they’re willing to offer total management solutions for all aspects of your IT infrastructure and provide strategies for how your tech can scale along with your business. Getting round-the-clock monitoring and support has clear benefits, but only if the provider can meet your other business needs, as well.

Ryan Lakin