You recognize this guy on the left – the young, slightly nerdy guy with the t-shirt? This guy is great, but is he available 24/7/365? Does he have the tools and resources of a full IT organization behind him? Is he even available during the day when you need help? Many small businesses we sit down and meet with to discuss our managed IT service offerings respond to our question of who provides their current IT support with “I have a guy”! What they usually mean is that they know someone (often it is a friend, neighbor or distant cousin) that knows something about computers. They call him (or her) when something breaks and it eventually gets fixed. Does this sound like your business? If so, THB would like the opportunity to explain the value of managed IT services.
Our definition of managed IT services is the proactive monitoring, securing, protection and management of your network to avoid failures and minimize downtime. The keywords are “proactive” and “avoid” as this is what differentiates our model from the traditional break/fix or “I have a guy” plan.
In the old break-fix IT support model, your interests are often in conflict with those of your service provider:
- The break/fix IT support provider has no incentive to make your network as stable as possible.
- They make money every time you have a problem.
- They don’t invest in network management tools because there is no incentive for them to do so.
- You don’t benefit from the latest network management and automation systems.
- It’s often a “best effort” service – you may not be a priority.
- If the break/fix IT support provider works slowly, they make more money.
- If they attend to the same problem more than once, you get double-billed for it.
- Its open-ended billing – there is no way to budget or “cap” your costs because its “pay as you go”
Unlike the old break/fix IT support model, our managed service plans align our interests with yours. We both want your network to be stable. We both want to minimize downtime. We both want to stop problems before they happen. Because of this alignment, we are incented to work harder and smarter to ensure that your network remains up and running.
Here’s how a managed service plan works:
- You pay a fixed monthly fee for us to keep your network up and running, no matter what. The more issues or problems the more it costs us
- There is no limit to the number of hours you can use.
- We are incented to keep your network as stable as possible.
- We do all the proactive maintenance we can to achieve optimal network stability.
- We have made significant investment in the latest network management systems to assist in our efforts.
So, if you “have a guy”, but would like to explore the value of our managed services, please contact us.
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