Does your business enroll in preventative maintenance for IT solutions?
If you’re like most businesses, the answer is probably no.
But why?
You get a physical once a year. You go to the dentist every 6 months. You get your oil changed every three to ten thousand models (depending on the vehicle and oil used). Preventative maintenance is part of our lives. So why don’t we think more about preventative maintenance for IT solutions?
RCI has installed hundreds of telephone systems across the state. Of those, a certain percentage of businesses also have a maintenance contract. Every customer who has a maintenance contract gets preventative maintenance. Why?
First off, it’s a way to take good care of our customers. But there is also a benefit to our bottom line. It is much cheaper to catch problems before they become major and correct them than to wait for catastrophic failure.
And it if saves us money, obviously it can save you money.
Preventative Maintenance for IT Matters More Now Than Ever Before
The modern office is a connected to the outside world dozens of ways. And each of those ways is an opportunity to cause harm to your business.
Every email you open is a chance of exposure to a virus. Every download could have a potential problem. Every program you need to run your operations (especially one that has not been updated) is a potential entry point for bad actors. Even most telephone systems are now connected to the world via the internet.
Technology can make life a lot easier, but a security breach or technology breakdown can make life miserable. Meanwhile, over time you are piling up weak links along with unnecessary virtual junk that makes your computers and other technology not work as well.
And unfortunately, the majority of small businesses owners are not very concerned with what a cybersecurity breach can do to their company.
What Does Preventative Maintenance for IT Catch?
When you hire an IT company to maintain your technology you don’t have to worry about your equipment surprising you.
Preventative care catches both hardware and software issues.
With hardware, your IT provider will notice normal wear and know when a piece of equipment has aged out of recommended use.
In addition your IT company will make sure that you have the best software for your various IT systems and that they are updated to the current version. Technicians will also look for malware and junk files that are taking up space and slowing down your technology.
Like an oil change, we have a checklist to make sure that all your likely points of failure are fortified. But beyond a checklist, we get to know you and your equipment. With our years of IT experience we also know how to recognize less obvious problems that you wouldn’t necessarily know to watch for.
What does IT Preventative Maintenance Cost?
If you’re wondering what the cost of IT preventative maintenance is, the short answer (and the good news) is, less than the cost of a hack or equipment failure.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact number here since every business has different IT needs.
There are also many different service packages you can choose from the minimal to the extensive. The important thing is to make sure that your equipment is being taken care of.
The good news is you can always decide what to do after you get a quote.
Preventative maintenance allows you to catch problems early, save money, and improve the general functionality of all your systems. If you’re not doing preventative maintenance, it’s time to start.
