Running your business is tough enough. The last thing you need is hackers stealing your data or hardware malfunctions breaking down your workflows. IT service providers are the extra pair of hands you need to run your company.
These professionals find quick solutions to some of the most common business problems, so you can focus your energy on something else.
Here’s how an IT service provider overcomes three business challenges.
You’ve read the headlines.
“Facebook Hackers Likely Hit Most Users,”
“It’s 3 Billion! Yes, Every Single Yahoo Account Was Hacked in 2013,”
“Data of 143 Million Americans Exposed in Hack of Credit Reporting Agency Equifax.”
It seems, then, that cybersecurity is a bigger problem for your business than it’s ever been. If you don’t have a proper cybersecurity and disaster recovery strategy in place, you could jeopardize your reputation.
Think about it rationally. If hackers infiltrate your network and exploit your data, will your customers trust you again?
Here’s a hint: the answer is probably not.
IT service providers manage multiple facets of your IT infrastructure for you, so you can concentrate on other areas of your business.
These professionals minimize the chances of hackers from stealing your valuable data through security measures like endpoint protection, machine learning, antivirus protection, and analytics.
Why is this so important?
60% of small companies go out of business within six months of a cyber attack. You still control your IT systems, of course. A managed IT service provider will simply carry the burden of management for you.
Downtime can have a significant impact on your business. Whether it’s the result of a power outage or a natural disaster, downtime results in loss of productivity, fewer business opportunities, and low employee morale.
Moreover, only 2% of organizations say they recover from a downtime incident in less than an hour.
An IT service provider gets your business up and running again quickly after a downtime incident. These companies utilize disaster recovery and business continuity plans to ensure you don’t lose valuable data and your staff gets back to work as soon as possible.
IT service providers don’t just respond to downtime events. They prevent downtime, too. They carry out all the IT tasks that you don’t have the time to do yourself, such as regular system checks and hardware maintenance.
Completing these tasks greatly diminishes the chances of a downtime disaster happening in the first place.
You know how important customer service is to the success of your company. How would you feel if consumers jumped ship and took their business elsewhere because of issues with your computer systems, for example?
Companies with a well-crafted customer service strategy have an average customer retention rate of 92%. If you skimp on service, however, you could lose out on sales.
An IT technology provider improves efficiencies and limits downtime. From installing the latest software updates to managing network security, service providers take care of IT support issues in real-time and prevent these problems from happening in the first place.
IT service providers prevent customers from canceling appointments or stopping service as a result of hardware and software malfunctions. As a result, you can provide better service and manage customer expectations. Customer service, downtime, and cybersecurity are three of the biggest challenges facing your business in 2018. You can’t tackle these problems alone. Investing in an IT provider will streamline many of your day-to-day business tasks and improve productivity in your workplace. Contact GroupOne today.
When you’re trying to focus on growing your business and make progress in a highly competitive world, the last thing you need is to be held back by your technology. Perhaps you hire an IT company to come in on a case-by-case basis whenever something goes wrong or needs updating. Many people do that and feel as though it sufficiently serves their purposes.
Let’s take a look at two friends: Bill and Dave. Bill met Dave at an industry convention and struck up a friendship. They’re in the same business and enjoy a friendly competition. However – Dave recently made the decision to switch his IT management to managed services with GroupOne – while Bill chose to remain with his current IT company. Let’s see how their business lives change as a result.
After Dave has met with GroupOne and worked with them to set up his new managed services, Bill thinks he has the advantage by taking what he feels is the less expensive option. Both men begin working as normal – until one day, Bill comes into work to find his network down. He quickly calls his IT provider and is placed in the queue to have a technician come out and take a look at the problem. All the while, Bill’s employees are stuck in the dreaded downtime. They twiddle their thumbs, read a book, and converse amongst one another until the technician has fixed the problem and has their network back up-and-running.
Over the last few months, Bill has noticed his IT provider keeps him waiting an awfully long time for assistance from the help desk. They haven’t offered him any strategies for moving forward, they have no contingency for him in the event he is hit by a cryptovirus – or worse yet – ransomware. And he’s had to allot for a usual amount of downtime with them “managing” his IT.
Based on industry surveys, Gartner has discovered the average cost of company downtime is $5,600 per minute, which extrapolates to well over $300K p/hour.
Dave’s company also had the same issue as Bill’s company. However, with GroupOne’s managed services, the issue was proactively detected by GroupOne’s technical support specialists the moment it arose and handled remotely. Dave’s issue was never allowed to evolve into a problem which could take down his network, and his staff continued working throughout the downtime of Bill’s company – as well as throughout every other downtime Bill’s company experienced thereafter, allowing his company to become far more productive.
Throughout his business day, Bill Simpkins often receives multiple messages from his staff regarding the software they use.
By the end of the week, Bill is ready to climb into a hole and never think about another software issue or upgrade again.
Dave, on the other hand, has happily granted management of all his technical vendors to GroupOne– who monitor all of Bill’s software and hardware for him. They even manage his service with his Internet provider. Now whenever a licensing or other software issue springs up, GroupOne receives warning in advance and works with the vendor to solve the issue before it can affect Dave’s company. They also ensure Dave’s people always have the latest version of their programs and know how to use them.
Dave’s people are delighted with how they never have to deal with their vendors or software issues, while Bill is still looking for a hole to crawl into.
When Dave told Bill he was going with managed services by GroupOne, Bill thought he was crazy. “Expensive!” he exclaimed. “We run small companies. We can’t afford a service like that. Maybe in a few years.” But Dave was undeterred. He had read a new CompTIA study, revealing that among current users of managed services, 46% of firms have trimmed their annual IT expenditures by 25% or more as a result of their shift to managed services – including 13% that have slashed annual IT expenditures by 50% or more.
He encouraged Bill to get a price quote with him, but Bill had no interest. “I’ll just do what I’m doing – you give your idea a try, and we’ll just SEE who comes out on top in the end,” Bill chuckled in response.
A week later, Dave was in a meeting with GroupOne – discussing all the benefits of managed services, the aspects of Dave’s business they will manage, and the cost. Dave left the meeting with a handshake and a large smile on his face, as he was astounded by the affordability of his new managed services plan. Dave would now receive the same level of IT support that large-scale companies receive, but the cost fits into his monthly budget.
As a result, Dave saw definite and measurable advancements within his company, and the reasonable cost offered by GroupOne allowed him to continue to receive that same level of service indefinitely.
A year later, Bill was highly impressed at how Dave’s company had benefited from managed services. He readily admitted defeat and promptly fired his IT company in favor of GroupOne. Today, both Dave and Bill are enjoying the freedoms and assistance they receive from managed services and, in addition, have also arranged for GroupOne to manage their security and professional services, as well.
We will be happy to do the same for you. Please reach out to GroupOne and let us know how we can help you.
Thieves can be anywhere, they don’t necessarily congregate under bridges or in those dark and creepy allies as much anymore. With some well placed keystrokes, your firewall can be breached, leaving you vulnerable and unaware until it is frankly too late. With the help of GroupOne’s managed network security services, you can continue about your day with full confidence that not only your but also your clients’ information is safe and secure. This is implemented by creating customized security solutions based upon the needs presented so that you get exactly what you require to be safe.
Don’t be prey to thieves using malware such as ransomware, which locks your operating system, or cryptolocker, which locks specific files without a specific pass key set by the cybercriminal. Both are highly used Trojan malware to extort money from you or your clients, and are generally targeted towards high value systems or files that have to do with sensitive information such as social security codes and credit card information. One of the first steps to having managed network security is by first testing your infrastructure for weaknesses, because to be strong you must first know where you are weak, and then proactively improve your network security against such future threats.
To keep up with the high demands of security as well as PCI, HIPAA, SEC, and FINRA regulations, GroupOne is an expert at keeping your network secure with a multi-layer defense. This includes strengthening your firewalls, email security, and controlling not only who but also what devices are capable of accessing your network. The firewall can be the most basic of defense, but is generally the best utilized as most are not used properly or in some cases not at all. With managed network security you and your clients receive only the messages they need while keeping any possible threats or spam from reaching your inbox. Finally with the growing amounts of ways to access a network with various mobile devices, it’s paramount to control the devices capable of doing so. Security should be your highest priority, let us help keep you protected!
Ah, your office network. It’s great, isn’t it? Filling orders, keeping track of customers, instantly giving you everything you need for a full day of productivity. And then – zap – your server goes down. Suddenly, your full day of productivity transforms into a nightmare of calling your IT support provider, begging them to fix it and inundating them with questions:
“How long will it be?”
“What’s the problem?”
“Can I get back on today?”
Faithful readers, what we’re dealing with here is a scenario involving a business who hires a reactive IT support provider. Meaning, when something breaks, they endeavor to fix it, leaving you at their mercy. Here’s why you should dump the break/fix company in favor of a proactive IT support provider.
You’re down. You’re floating on the busy “Sea of Commerce”. All your competitors are happily sailing by, waving to you as they take care of business. And there you are – adrift, waiting for your rescue boat to arrive, which is never in as big a hurry as you are. This is par for the course with a reactive IT support partner. However, with a proactive IT support partner, it’s extraordinarily likely the problem that caused the server crash in the first place would have been caught by their network monitoring well before the crash occurred. Waiting avoided. You just steered Titanic clear of that iceberg.
Let’s say your network didn’t go down. Say one of your applications just won’t work properly. An irritation, but usually not catastrophic. Would you rather call your break/fix slowpokes and try to have them talk you through support over the phone – or worse yet – hear them say, “Okay, we’ll head that way,” or would you prefer your IT support provider to instantly remote into your workstation, fix the problem, and have you back to work in minutes? Or better yet, a week beforehand, they see a licensing issue with your application and handle it themselves without even involving you, your business, or your productivity. Which do you prefer? That’s what we thought.
The main point is that a good proactive IT support partner should have the ability to catch almost all network issues before they actually become issues for their clients. Without having to travel to the client’s business. Without even having the client know there was ever an issue. Proactive IT support is designed to prevent issues before they happen. Reactive IT support is designed to remedy issues after they happen.
Tired of your ship floating adrift? Shoot us a signal flare, and GroupOne will sail to your rescue. Plus, we’ll batten down your hatches with our proactive IT support, so you’ll enjoy smooth sailing for the rest of your days.
Pedro Pereira, writing for Channel Insider, discusses the compelling statistics about managed IT services. Because cost savings are one of the main selling points for these services, it’s worth taking a look at what companies using them have to say about it.
Periera cites Computing Technology Industry Association’s poll of 400 IT and business professionals that found that almost half of organizations that use managed IT services say they’ve reduced their IT budgets by 25 percent by using managed services.
Additionally, 13 percent of respondents estimated their savings to be 50 percent or more and 50 percent said managed IT services save them 1 to 24 percent on IT costs. With 96 percent of respondents saying managed services save them money, it’s hard not to use cost savings as a strong selling point.
But cost savings isn’t the only benefit of managed IT services. Sharply reduced downtime with remote monitoring and better security of systems maintained in the cloud and not subject to the same risk of physical damage and loss as on-site equipment are just a few of the value-added benefits.
CIO Magazine’s article “Why You Should (Eventually) Fire Your CIO” explains that managed IT services are going to take the place of the CIO position altogether by enabling faster internal business and technical innovation with smaller teams of functional experts incurring smaller costs and requiring little to no central management.
Information technology research and advisory company Gartner predicts that changes in technology will cause more companies to seek managed IT services. Gartner says they’ll have to do it to keep up with rapid changes and developments in the digital business environment.
Jessica Adams, writing for Whitehat Virtual Blog, says the reasons to consider managed IT services include less downtime, proactive prevention rather than reactive, and heightened security necessary for increasing mobile access to sensitive data. She explains that using manage IT services keeps businesses closer to cutting edge IT management at lower costs than trying to do it in-house, which has the added benefit of also improving customer service.
If you want those kinds of benefits for your business, managed IT services can make them happen. Contact us at GroupOne IT and we’ll be happy to discuss how we provide managed IT services and how they will benefit your business.
GroupOne builds custom, strategic technology plans, essential to achieving our clients’ visions. We collaborate with clients to ensure their objectives are achieved and results are acknowledged. Every aspect of our client-focused activity is driven by a relentless pursuit of operational excellence.
Copyright 2021 GroupOne Consulting, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
