Source: cheekymunkey.co.uk
Cloud technology has revolutionized how businesses work over the last ten years. For multiple businesses, cloud-based platforms were a godsend during the pandemic. Without the cloud, most businesses may have had to shut down.
The possibility of remote working has also made it easier for small businesses to get access to professional IT services – for a fraction of the price they pay in salaries for in-house IT professionals.
Moreover, the advancement in cloud technology in recent years has left some of the old-school IT technicians in the dark about the new technology. To optimize cloud-based systems, a degree of specialism is required.
Moreover, IT support providers recognize and understand the need for an IT strategy that maximizes your operations in today’s business landscape. Whilst the priority is to ensure your staff has access to the optimal amount of uptime, IT support professionals set up your entire business system and ensure you are well protected against a data breach.
In this environment, the IT support industry has been booming. It allows small to medium-sized businesses to use the most up-to-date software without needing an expensive in-house team. Find out below what you need to look for when choosing your IT support solution.
Your IT support solution needs to be able to do everything that has been mentioned in this article. Ideally, you need a team of competent IT support professionals that offers a catch-all service and provides cloud services.
Patch Management
You may not have heard of management but you will be familiar with it if you own a smartphone or computer. Patch management is essentially a bit like a software security update on your phone’s operating system. Patch management includes every piece of software, hardware and application stopped on your business network.
The reason why patch management is so important is that apps and software programs develop vulnerabilities over time that can be exploited by threat actors. If the patch is not sealed, your business could be breached by hackers.
The other option is to ensure that your employees update their devices every time a software company issues a security update. And that means monitoring all the companies you have software with – and relying on all your employees to perform the update. Patch management runs in the background and makes sure you are fully up-to-date and protected.
Increase Uptime
It is estimated the average business experiences around 19 network outages a year. The loss of costs involved depends on the size of the company but can run into tens of thousands even for small businesses.
Managed IT support providers use sophisticated technologies such as remote monitoring that enable them to identify where a potential problem could cause a system outage. The proactive approach allows IT technicians to repair the issue before it becomes an issue.
You will find that most cloud-based IT support providers claim they aim for network uptime figures of at least 99.99%. That’s pretty impressive.
Cloud Backup
The EU’s GDPR states that a company is deemed to breach data privacy laws if they accidentally or deliberately lose or destroy data that belongs to your customers, employees or third party.
If your systems go down and you are unable to recover data from your onsite servers, you could land yourself in big trouble with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Cloud backups ensure that none or very little of your data is lost forever.
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