Every dollar a small business spends needs to have an immediate and quantifiable return. There has never been a better time to put more emphasis on tracking business spending than now. This is especially true for critical services such as information technology support. If you are one of the millions of small businesses that depend upon your technology to keep your business running, proactive Managed Services will save you money, improve your efficiencies and reduce your down time.

The Solution

With the advent of new monitoring tools and the ability to remotely deliver help desk services to small businesses regardless of their location all over the world, Managed Information Technology Service Providers have developed proactive maintenance plans for their clients that maximize their up time and reduce information technology costs over time. By implementing newly available automated processes, systems can be patched and updated overnight without the need for on site visits, or disrupting an organization's work day. Gone are the days of calling your information technology service provider to report a problem, schedule an appointment, and then wait for the tech to arrive to provide the solution!

In addition, remote help desk tools and technology allow Managed Information Technology Service Providers the ability to react immediately and assist users when they experience day to day problems, without forcing them to wait for an appointment to handle an on site service call.

Forward thinking Managed Information Technology Service Providers are also implementing proactive remote Network Monitoring tools and services, which evaluate the performance of systems 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and alert these Service Providers of potential issues before they become work-stopping problems for their clients.

The Details

Implementing and receiving the benefit of these solutions is painless for the Small Business Owner, as Managed Information Technology Service Providers can begin delivering these cost saving and efficiency improving services soon after deploying specialized software agents on all managed equipment. These agents report device health, service pack and operating system, anti-virus and anti-spyware update information back to the Managed Information Technology Service Provider's monitoring systems, allowing real-time analysis and proactive management to occur.

Specialized software applications installed at the Managed Information Technology Service Provider's location also track all problems reported by their monitoring systems and end-users, and are used to document all steps initiated for resolution. These applications provide a ready knowledge-base of information which grows over time, allowing swift resolution for issues that have been previously documented, therefore reducing the amount of time it takes to identify and resolve issues.

The Benefits

Benefits from Managed Information Technology Services enjoyed by Small Business Owners are many, and include increased operational efficiency, the ability to reduce and control their operating costs and gain access to Enterprise-level support. In addition, these Small Business Owners are now able to focus on running their businesses, and not their networks, and receive the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge their networks are being monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.