Once your installers have installed your audiovisual system, you need to maintain and support it. For some large businesses, an in-house IT department may be tasked with maintaining audio visual technology. For other businesses, outsourcing IT support may be a better option for two reasons:
- Cost: Unless you run a large facility, it is unlikely that you will have enough work for a full time IT administrator. This means that you may be overpaying for IT support because you may be paying a full time salary to someone who is not working full time. By outsourcing, you usually only pay for what you need. Moreover, you can avoid the costs associated with hiring an employee to support your remote managed systems.
- Qualifications: It can be difficult to hire outside your field. For example, if you run a law firm or a restaurant, you might not know the first thing about hiring an IT administrator. However, an IT company that specializes in remote managed systems knows exactly what skills are needed. Moreover, if someone is not performing as needed, the IT support company is responsible for replacing him or her with someone who can.
Here’s why you should outsource your remote managed systems.
Configuration and Setup
After a system is installed, it must still be configured. With remote managed systems, an IT specialist does not even need to be onsite to configure and set up your system. Often, configuration can set the stage for everything else that happens with your system. Properly configured, you might be able to avoid later problems with the system. Moreover, when someone is familiar with the technical specifications of your hardware and software, they may be able to enable features that an inexperienced person would miss. Because you are outsourcing an expert, your system will be configured to the best of its ability.
Support
Fortunately, computer systems only do what you tell them to do. Unfortunately, computer systems only do what you tell them to do. The way to get a computer system to do what you want it to do is to find someone who speaks the same language as the computer system.
The types of questions remote managed services can answer include the typical support questions, such as:
- Printer issues
- Network and server problems
- Video conferencing glitches
- Computer crashes
- File recovery
- Lost network passwords
- Telecom and VOIP issues
Every business can suffer from these issues. You need an experienced business to back you up when you need it.
Patches and Updates
Admit it: when you run your own IT systems you let the patches and updates pile up because you do not have the time or patience to babysit your server for hours on end while it downloads.
When you outsource the maintenance of your remote managed systems, they can be patched and updated remotely so that neither you nor your IT administrator need to monitor your server. This is one of the most important benefits of remote managed systems; patches are frequently issued when software developers identify an exploit in the software that can be used by hackers to breach your network. Allowing those patches to pile up uninstalled can pose a major risk to the security of your data.
Troubleshooting
One of the most time-consuming jobs of an IT administrator is troubleshooting a problem. Problems can arise in many places within a computer network. Tracking a problem to the right device, identifying whether the problem is a hardware problem, software problem, or configuration problem, and fixing it, can take hours or even days. This is almost certainly a job you do not have time for when you have your own job duties to perform. Outsourcing the role of troubleshooter is often the most efficient solution, allowing each of you to focus on your respective jobs.
Backup
Most of us worry about backups only when it is too late, such as after a server crash or data breach. However, backing up your data is relatively simple. In fact, over 95% of businesses have used cloud technology for at least one purpose, including cloud backups. Remote managed services can remotely configure your system to automatically back up your data on a set schedule so that it will be there when you need it.
Remote managed services do all those things that you do not know, forget, or do not have time for.