It is late on a Friday afternoon, and Jack has a very important proposal that needs to be delivered by close of business. After a week of hard work, he is finally ready to send his proposal via email, but suddenly discovers, to his dismay, that his corporate email doesn’t work. While he scrambles to find another means to deliver his proposal, he also places a panicked call to his IT support service to find out what’s wrong and hopefully get a quick solution to his email problem.
The above scenario exemplifies how many small and medium enterprises (SME) typically operate in a reactive mode in managing their critical IT infrastructure. When something breaks, a crisis situation often arises and resources have to be deployed in a hurried manner to fix a problem.
SME’s critically dependant on IT
Not unlike large enterprises, SME’s are critically dependent upon IT to support their operations. We know that problems that compromise large computer systems, such as hardware breakdowns and malicious software, also pose a threat to SME’s. Information assets supported by IT must be adequately protected and downtime must be minimized. Otherwise, there is a risk of lost revenue, increased costs, negative publicity, damage to reputation and loss of trust.
Proactive care is a better option for SME’s to manage their IT requirements. Proactive care of an IT environment is an investment that typically results in lower overall costs over the longer-term than a reactive, break-fix approach to IT management. Proactive care also reduces exposure to unexpected hardware and software problems, and threats from malicious software and unauthorized intrusions into your IT environment.
A comprehensive proactive care solution should include a full review of the IT infrastructure and IT processes based upon recognized best practices. A very comprehensive and widely recognized standard is Control Objectives for the Management of Information Technology, commonly referred to as COBIT. If appropriately tailored to the SME, COBIT can help the organization to benchmark its IT management practices against the recommendations of a broad range of recognized experts in the field.
A pillar of proactive care should include comprehensive monitoring of the critical operations of the IT environment and the assets contained in it. Imagine the implications if one of the computers or other devices on a network was removed without authorization or conversely if an unapproved device was connected to the network. Comprehensive monitoring can detect this activity and immediately provide an alert on a 24×7 basis. Other key components of proactive care include protection from viruses, spy ware and email spam.
Of course, proactive care must be quarterbacked by highly competent and properly trained IT professionals. Proactive care should also include comprehensive, regular, plain language reporting on results and any identified issues. The proactive care provider should provide recommendations on a regular basis of potential opportunities where IT can better support business requirements.
Our friend Jack was lucky – he was able to find a courier to deliver a hard-copy of his proposal. His IT service provider spent many hours trouble shooting Jack’s email problems. The email outage could be traced back to a virus that was sending a high volume of spam mail from Jack’s network. The spam was detected by Jack’s internet service provider, who in accordance with their anti-spam policy, shut-down Jack’s email service.
The monitoring component of a proactive care solution would likely have detected the problem when it started and before the internet service provider shut down the email service. Proactive IT care can put out fires before they start. Perhaps this is an option your organization may wish to further explore.
Author: Francis Liska
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker
- MEAT-EATING HORSE LOVING PROTESTERS UNITE!
- Vacancy Announcement: Executive Director, Young People We Care
- Proactive Health Care Discount Petition
Related Posts -
Useful For All Businesses - Norstar Telephone Services Perfect for professional level, multi-line, telephone, Norstar telephone is equipped with two-line display and 16 characters per line LCD window. Norstar Telephone needs a large amount of interactive information and a programmable set of buttons which is exclusively designed for the high-call-volume customer.Services like Voip internet phone service, Voip...... - Virtual PBX - A Simple Definition What is a virtual PBX? First of all, I'm not really fond of the term virtual PBX or Private Branch Exchange, even though it very accurately describes what a Virtual Phone System is. The reason I don't like that term is because, even though I just spelled out what......
- The 3 Most Important Services to Look For in a Managed IT Company Call it a sign of the times. A cultural phenomenon. Generation Y's need for instant gratification. There are many phrases that could describe why more and more companies are outsourcing their IT departments. The basic facts remain that outsourcing offers more (combined) experience, better response times, and cutting edge......
- Battle of the Budget - An Opportunity to Reduce Operating Costs With Managed IT Services Per Matt Dickerson, Managing Director and Senior Network Consultant of AXXIS Technology, and cited as one of the Top 15 Worldwide SMB consultants, "The typical small business or firm spends 30% of the I.T. budget on hardware purchases and 70% on I.T. maintenance." What are those numbers for your......
- VegaStream - VoIP & Emergency Services VoIP and Geographic LocationThe emergency services have come to rely on certain features of the traditional telephone system to enable them to do their jobs and to safeguard against misuse of the general public's privilege to call them night or day. The key feature is the Caller Line Indication......
Related Websites -
Wilson Camp Prattville, Lake Almanor, CA Wilson Camp Pratville is located on: Lake Almanor Phone: 530.259.2267 Average Water Depth: Lake Almanor's levels can vary greatly. Please call ahead for the exact level before you arrive. Marine Stand by Channel: Not at this time, but you can reach the marina by phone. Is there a pumpout station?...... -
Baghdatis Takes Title in Stockholm ATP World Tour Tournament In Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis managed to take his first title in the ATP World Tour since February of 2007, after having defeated Oliver Rochus from Belgium with 6 - 1, 7 - 5 during the If Stockholm Open during Sunday. He has become the tenth unseeded winner to claim...... -
About PC TechSup Your Trusted Technology Team for all your Voice & Data Needs PC TechSup was established in 2001 and has been specializing in Microsoft Small Business Server Installations & Providing Secure Networking of any number of PC's, we are a small growing company that puts high value on service. PC TechSup...... - What You Must Know About Cheap Paternity Test Unlike today, paternity test was not simple and it was considered as an unknown process to most of the people. The worst thing is that it could be worth thousands of dollars that could empty your bank account. However, today there is a cheap paternity test available in the market.......
- Finding The Secrets About Online Network Marketing Today Finding TheTruthAbout Online Network Marketing TodayThere was a time when Online Network Marketing was a very lonely place to do business.You did not get to interact with other workers to build friendships. And unlike a Store Front, no one walks into the door to strike up a conversation with you.......
Related posts:
