Posted by Nancy Walker on Thu, Dec 29, 2011 @ 07:52 AM
Three Ways You Can Do IT Managed Services
The recent economic turmoil has put tremendous pressure on organizations to explore ways to reduce costs across all areas of their business—and IT is of course no exception. Although most companies have implemented some level of technology to improve staff productivity, the cost of maintaining and supporting computer systems and ensuring continual end-user satisfaction can be significant. Fortunately, there are now attractive alternatives for small and mid-size businesses (SMB) to significantly reduce their IT budgets while simultaneously improving the uptime, effectiveness and satisfaction of their investments in computers and technology. SMB’s are typically limited to three types of models to manage and support their computers
1) The first model is to invest and build out an internal IT Department. This option is the most costly to setup and maintain. Most organizations will need to budget about $120,000 for just a single IT support professional with the experience needed for your company. Given the high demand for quality, experienced IT staff in our area, finding, managing, retaining and developing your technical person can be a difficult and time consuming process. Furthermore, based on industry standard turnover rates for IT staff, you will need to restart your recruitment process every two years!
2) Another alternative is to outsource the support of your IT department to a sole proprietor or independent IT consultant. This initially attractive low cost alternative can actually be very difficult to make successful. However, these individuals can easily be found online, or through a referral from a friend or colleague.
Their resumes may contain many industry “buzz words” but their experience and skills are often focused on just a few technologies. More importantly, their limited resources do not allow them to scale to the cyclical needs of your business and they have few resources to respond to the ongoing demands of more than one account at one time. Furthermore, almost all have not made the substantial investment in system management tools and applications and are therefore unable to offer Service Level Agreements (SLA’s). As such, you should be prepared to churn through several people before securing the one you feel can adequately support your business.
3) A final alternative is to outsource your needs to a dedicated IT Support company or Managed Services Provider (MSP). This option will save you 30-50% of the cost of the in-house model yet you will receive higher levels of service and response than either of the other support models. There are many variations on this model and you need to be diligent in selecting a partner that has a comprehensive service offering that can respond to your varied IT support needs and requirements.
It is recommended to select a company that offers fixed-fee pricing, utilizes a team of IT professionals that each perform specialized tasks and roles, has staff members with multiple technical certifications, leverages industry leading technologies to effectively manage your environment, has documented best practices processes and procedures, performs regularly scheduled onsite visits combined with unlimited remote support as well as a trusted partner that can recommend and successfully implement new technology in support of your business goals and objectives.
* Some information provided by ComputerAssistant.com
Call today to get more information on how Managed Services can help your Business
713-682-4000
WesTec Services, A Houston IT provider that offers a wide range of services including: Network Installation/Service, Telephone Systems/Service, Video Surveillance/Access Control and Office Equipment
CALL TODAY at (713) 682-4000
Posted by Richard Schissler on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 @ 07:46 AM
We insure our homes, cars and general business property. However, very few businesses ever try and insure their IT services. This is the component of our business that can shut our business down or be our best friend when it comes to making a deadline for our best client.
IT service insurance can come in many forms. The best known takes for the form of managed services. You pay the IT service provided a flat fee in advance each month. The provider in turn promises to keep your IT system up and running 24/7.
Houston IT service providers typically provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee that your IT will be up and running. If they fail to maintain this level of service then they refund a portion of their fee; or they offer a contract that can be cancelled with just thirty (30) days notice.
Another advantage of IT Service Insurance is that such plans usually include a great amount of proactive services to prevent a system failure. These services take the form of network security, spam and virus protection, among others. Proactive service properly administered can protect your IT network from potential failure.
A third reason to utilize an insured IT service is to protect critical data from accidental or intentional destruction. A good IT managed service provider will offer one or more backup protection solutions as part of their insurance plan. All businesses must have a backup and data recovery plan.
When you buy a flat rate service plan you can more accurately budget your IT outlays. . IT managed services put a cap on computer related expenses. In a competitive economy the more expenses you can fix, the more competitive you can be in your own industry
A fifth advantage of pre-paid service plans is the level of overall service you receive. Typically, your company receives the highest level of service. When you need any kind of help the response time you receive is minimal. Again, this adds up to keeping your IT system up and running.
Business continuity is the key advantage of using insured IT services. Your business must continue to operate in all kinds of environments. A contracted service provider should have your system well prepared for all contingencies. The ability of your business to depend on its IT system should always be the overall focus of insured or managed services.
WesTec Services, A Houston IT provider that offers a wide range of services including: Network Installation/Service, Telephone Systems/Service, Video Surveillance/Access Control and Office Equipment
CALL TODAY at (713) 682-4000
Posted by Richard Schissler on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 @ 03:01 PM
The flat rate managed service model of pro-active technology support offers several advantages over the re-active time-&-material model of break-fix:
- Automated software patching, anti-virus updates, disk defragmentation and other preventative maintenance services ensure that computers and services run efficiently, work less and are safer from security vulnerabilities, malware & viruses. These processes prevent problems.
- Technology allows the engineering team to monitor the clients’ assets and look for potential problems and issues. Software tools give engineers detailed insight into the state of our clients’ computers and servers. In addition, tools are put in place that notify the engineers when certain conditions occur so they can explore and fix problems before disruption occurs.-Managed Services
- Providers can access clients’ computers remotely. This remote access allows engineers to fix ninety (90) percent of problems remotely from the network operations center and without going on site. This means that a problem, such a locked computer can be addressed immediately instead of waiting for someone to arrive at your office.
- The remote managed service team can verify that critical processes such as data backup, virus updates and tape rotations are occurring on schedule as they should.
- Managed services will provide you with more reliable performance and more predictable expenses. That means you get more value from the technology you’ve already invested in, while actually reducing the total costs of IT problems and the resulting downtime.
Proactive IT network managed services provides you with insurance that guarantees that your business computer systems will always be up and running. For more information on IT Managed Services please contact us at sales@westecservices.net
WesTec Services, A Houston IT provider that offers a wide range of services including: Network Installation/Service, Telephone Systems/Service, Video Surveillance/Access Control and Office Equipment
CALL TODAY at (713) 682-4000
Posted by Nancy Walker on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 @ 02:55 PM
5 Reasons to Leverage IT Managed Services
How can small and mid-size companies benefit from IT Managed Services? Below you will find Five (5) Business Reasons where IT Managed Services can provide a well thought out, cost effective solution. Take a look and see if your company is facing one or several of these, if so there may be a cause for considering IT Managed Services within your company.
Our business wants to increase profitability
We want to automate tasks to increase margins and drive value
Our teams travel – They need mobile tools that are easy to access and obtain information to increase sales performance.
Our business needs to increase productivity
Operation runs in real-time ( locally, nationally, and globally )
When our staff isn’t productive, we’re losing money and clients/customers
Our business needs to maximize ROI and manage our costs for effectively
In-House IT department is small. We needs to be confident that our systems are not vulnerable if our IT Staff leaves or is let go.
Our company is required to have secure data, transactions and communications.
We want to ensure our systems are protected and up to date to fight the latest viruses and threats.
Our business delivers quality products and superior customer service
Automation of our tasks, provide value and add to our customer base
We use several methods of communications to interact with our customers
Responding quickly to our customer needs and expectations
Our business is in transition
We are expanding our business – Nationally/Globally
We are needing to upgrade – Computers, Servers, Phones, etc. – Do we buy or lease?
Want more information? Contact us at sales@westecservices.net and ask about our 90 day trial on our Guardian Remote Managed Services.
WesTec Services, A Houston IT provider that offers a wide range of services including: Network Installation/Service, Telephone Systems/Service, Video Surveillance/Access Control and Office Equipment
CALL TODAY at (713) 682-4000
