Doesn’t everyone love a little extra support?
As a business owner, support is always helpful, but you may not always ask for it. Well, you may not think to ask until it’s too late because things are handled and managed easily on a day-to-day basis.
That’s where IT management comes in. It entails those services that you may not think you need, but when the time comes, these services become a crucial part of your business. We like to think of IT management as being proactive rather than reactive.
When your IT security is breached, you may scramble to find a professional with experience in your niche and one you can trust and rely on.
When you are planning ways to strategically grow your business via strong IT decisions, you may feel the need to reach out to a qualified IT consultant.
When you are designing your network and wish for it to be carefully managed, you know to set up your infrastructure properly, but may not have time to do so.
Technology is unpredictable. To say that an issue will never occur is hopeful, but unfortunately cannot always be the case. That’s why having managed IT support can act as a vital asset to your company, ensuring that your network design, IT security, strategic planning, cloud services, and general management are all working efficiently and driving revenue.
Let’s take a look at 5 services that managed IT support can bring to your business:
1. Managed services
You may be thinking, “Aren’t managed IT support and managed services the same thing?” They are not!
Think of managed IT services as a personal relationship that results in smooth IT operations, whereas managed IT support is more of an umbrella term that encompasses several IT related services.
As your business grows, your IT inevitably advances and becomes a necessary focal point for all operations. In the past, companies may have slipped by with a provider they outsourced on a whim to fix an issue or briefly manage your IT infrastructure. Now, with technology as the center point, businesses are reassessing the need for not just an internal IT team, but also a remotely managed IT service provider.
Managed IT services include outsourced IT services, co-managed IT services, and virtual CIOs. Outsourcing is best for when your business does not need a full-time IT staff, yet still requires tech support. Co-managed IT services focus on day-to-day management and allow your staff to focus on strategic needs. In our opinion, Virtual CIOs are among the most beneficial, as they help you project future needs by creating technology road maps, identifying innovative technology, and suggesting solutions to everyday problems.
2. Network Design
Evaluating the efficiency of your business is key to growth. Unfortunately, nowadays you cannot have efficiency without technology; without appropriate technology or the ability to use it properly to improve your business can be detrimental.
Network infrastructure is the control center of your efficiency. It includes but is not limited to routers, networking software, operating systems, and firewalls, which are all key components for your company’s ability to communicate and collaborate effectively as well as handle business operations as best and as easily as possible.
At RNIT, we implement best practices when creating your network infrastructure to ensure it is seamlessly integrated into your day-to-day work.
3. IT Security
Knowing your business is secure brings so much more than peace of mind, and nothing is more frustrating than 1) being limited in your ability to protect yourself or your business and 2) not knowing how to fix a problem when it presents itself.
IT security protects and empowers you. Whether password and communication best practices or firewall and antivirus software, our job is to guard your company data and internal processes unlike any other provider.
Through security audits, data backups, server security, and privacy & sensitive data protection, we help you run your business confidently, knowing it is protected from the inside out.
4. Strategic Planning
How does one grow a business? Simply put, you can assess the data, analyze the good and bad, search for opportunities, and pivot as needed.
When it comes to your managed IT services, strategic planning is no different. In both situations, the business must evaluate all potential outcomes and make a well-made decision. Here’s where strategic planning for IT becomes even more important.
Strategic IT consulting doesn’t just involve technology; it is the foundation of your financial and growth goals. A plan, like those we offer, helps show a bird’s eye view of all steps necessary, regarding technology, to achieve those goals.
We understand the importance of gradually, carefully, and strategically introducing and integrating more technology into your organization as you advance. Consider this for example: a concern for a small business such as security measures or managing individual devices may be viewed as a minor mishap or bump in the road now, however down the road, if not accounted for or managed properly, it may be seen as a crack in the foundation.
No project is too small for planning, which is why we tie your IT planning strategy to your business cycle, incorporate long-term and short-term goal planning, provide feedback and suggestions for communication, and encourage flexibility with emerging technology to meet your IT needs more accurately.
5. Cloud Services
Having us manage your Cloud services provides you with an online storage solution.
Business Cloud services allow companies to access, share, and back up data through the internet rather than a homebase server. Yes, very similar to iPhone cloud storage; if you never want to lose pictures of your grandmother or your contacts, you store them on The Cloud.
Outside of our typical iPhone doings, the remaining capabilities of Cloud services are far more advanced, including things like Saas, IaaS, PaaS, MaaS, and more. So, which is best for your business? What is the capability of each? Our team of personable IT professionals at RNIT can help answer these questions for you and even suggest the best business Cloud services options for your business.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), for example, may be a great solution. If so, we assist you in evaluating your current infrastructure, identify data flows, work with end-users to understand their requirements, and work closely with your IT department to ensure a smooth transition.
Our goal is not to make your systems more complicated. Instead, our aim is to eliminate any confusion about Cloud services and to empower your team, making them feel confident when it comes to working with your data.
Our team is here to help you succeed and we do this by sticking with you every step of the way. Technology can be quite the challenge to tackle, and even tougher to foresee and prepare for.
Whether you are reacting to a current IT problem, searching for advice on any of the above services, or in need of managed IT support to grow your business, we would be happy to listen to your needs and make suggestions. Please feel free to contact us here or by email at services@rnitsolutions.com. From here, we’ll begin our job while you focus on yours.