The Break/Fix IT support model is something that has been followed for years. However, with the changing business landscape, having fully functioning hardware, software, and security solutions are crucial to running a successful business. After all, if you have a team of 100 employees who have to wait an average of 3 minutes each day for an IT related issue to be resolved, it equates to around 50 work days per annum that have been lost to IT issues. Can you really afford that? As an organisation with no ongoing managed support, you are potentially setting your business up for some serious downtime and huge repair costs should an issue go un-noticed and result in a major problem. This begs the question, is a break/fix setup right for your business or could you reap the benefits of a managed service? To give you a steer in the right direction we thought we would discuss some different aspects of each IT support strategy.
Break/Fix IT support
Break/Fix IT support set-ups basically work like a plumber would. Instead of having a plumber on standby in your bathroom 24/7, you only call them when you have a major problem, like a leaking pipe. The concept of this type of support is that you only get the help you need when you need it, for example, if your email stops working or a server stops working. This may seem like a great setup, especially if you are a business who experiences and anticipates fluctuations in demand throughout the year. However, in reality, it could cost you a lot of money and a lot of downtime should a major problem arise, which makes it very difficult for you to budget effectively. Most break/fix support providers will work on the assumption that you will only require their service when something goes wrong. Although it sounds pretty straight forward, what do you do if you don’t realise you have a critical error behind the screen?
Managed Services
A managed services provider, or MSP, are outsourced IT support providers who are not only there to help when you need them but help even when you don’t know that you need them. A huge advantage of using an MSP is that most providers will package their services into a fixed monthly fee, meaning no hidden emergency costs should the worst arise.
Break/Fix IT Support versus Managed Services
Both a break/fix support setup and managed services setup centre around the same premise – an outsourced IT support service for your organisation so that you can begin to focus on your businesses core processes. In reality, though, they are very different.
Whereas break/fix it IT services are often reactive services – a service reliant on you contacting the provider when you notice something isn’t working as it should, managed service providers rely on a proactive strategy, taking full responsibility of your IT systems. This means that as opposed to waiting on a panicked call from you telling them you can’t log in to the server, they ensure your IT systems are working properly and are up to date without you needing to pick up the phone.
So what is the best set-up?
Although becoming increasingly more uncommon, break/fix support services may well have their place in large enterprises who employ a large in-house team. However, as an SME with a limited budget, this really isn’t the way to go. It may seem like a good idea to pay for something when you need it, after all, you wouldn’t order a taxi on the off chance you might have to go somewhere. But what if you were the taxi service? Would you only make cars available when you knew you had an advance booking, or would you have a car on standby at all times just in-case someone needed a taxi ‘now’? Why should it be any different with your IT systems? Unfortunately, none of us can pre-empt IT system issues. Luckily for you though our Complete Monitoring package can. As an MSP, Complete I.T. can better serve small to medium sized businesses who have just a one-man band looking after their IT systems, or no internal team at all. With our Complete Monitoring service, you can expect to see the following advantages:
1: 24/7 monitoring of your systems
Our automated systems are constantly on the lookout for any issues that may have arisen on your systems. Should they identify any issues, our helpdesk teams will receive an alert straight away and will resolve the problem before your day-to-day responsibilities are even impacted.
2: Innovation
As we take full responsibility for your IT systems, you can rest assured that we will be just as invested in their upkeep as you are. Not only that, as an extension of your business we are always on the lookout for new technologies that will make a wealth of difference to your business and its ability to scale.
3: Fixed monthly fee
Unlike break/fix support providers who charge according to the works they carry out, we offer competitive fixed-monthly fees, meaning there is no need to account for fluctuating IT costs month-to-month or high emergency call out fees. So fear not, even during the toughest of times where you might feel like everything that could go wrong does, you will know exactly how much will be coming out of your account, regardless of the time we have spent fixing your systems.
So there you have it – a run through of the different aspects of both a break/fix setup and MSPs. If you have any questions that we haven’t answered please get in touch with us today.
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