The IT structure in your business plays a crucial role in its success. Without a solid IT team or service provider, you run the risk of losing data or facing security breaches.
In other words, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Your business deserves the best IT support to ensure your company stays afloat.
However, finding a quality service provider isn’t always easy. You can find many services that offer remote IT services.
But which of them are worth your time and money? Thankfully, there are key skills you want your IT team to have.
Let’s review them.
1. Quick Service and Response Time
A slow response to an emergency situation can spell real trouble for a brand. Without a quick response from your IT support, you could end up with damaged networks and stolen data.
It only takes minutes for a hacker to breach your systems and get away with gigs worth of information. And there are various other situations that also require quick service.
For instance, downed systems that prevent your business from operating optimally. Having these restored fast is critical to maintaining the trust and satisfaction of your customers.
2. Maximum Availability
There are many threats that face the IT infrastructure in your business. It’s important for your IT service provider to be available at all hours of the day, each day of the week.
Hackers never sleep and unforeseen threats can appear at any turn. As you’re shopping around for IT support, make sure to ask about their availability.
Any IT service that’s not available around the clock isn’t worth your money or the risk.
3. Disaster Recovery Planning
What happens in the event your systems crash and you lose important data? Rather than going into a meltdown, you should be able to reach out to your IT support for assistance.
In fact, your IT service should already have a disaster recovery plan in place. This is ideal for planning ahead of weather disasters, outages, and vandalism.
Any IT company you hire should have a strategy for safeguarding your data and restoring it quickly in the event of a disaster.
One IT company that offers data recovery planning is Scarlett Group.
4. Local On-Site Support and Maintenance
Sometimes, remote IT services aren’t enough. There may be a physical problem with a server or other components that need attention.
In the event of this, your IT support should come to your facility to take a look. This makes working with a local IT provider a better option in some cases.
Some IT companies partner with vendors that can perform such services.
5. Cloud Services and Daily Backups
Now, there are various benefits of having your data backed up in the cloud. For one, it allows you to access the data from anywhere.
And two, it ensures your data is safe and secure if your physical storage drives are ruined. It’s important that your data is consistently backed up in the cloud on a daily basis. Disaster can strike at any moment, so keep secondary data files stored on a remote server for safety.
6. Regular Security Testing and Monitoring
Waiting around for security breaches is like sitting ducks waiting for a crocodile – it’s just not smart. It’s better to be proactive in your search for loopholes hackers can manipulate.
The support team you hire should provide regular testing and monitoring of your systems. This way, glitches are eliminated as soon as possible.
Data breaches can occur in any business of any size. We’ve seen it happen to Home Depot and most recently, Equifax.
Cyber-security threats are very real, so hire the IT support you need to safeguard your business from a PR nightmare.
7. Remote Access
You can’t expect all of your employees to be tech-savvy. For those who need a little extra help, your IT team should offer remote access.
This way, problems don’t turn into issues that slow down productivity. There should also be a hotline employees can call when they have IT-related questions.
8. Proactive with Maintenance
Setting up your IT structure and monitoring it is one thing. But what about providing ongoing maintenance? Your support team should ensure your systems are all updated with the top firmware and firewalls.
Software that’s not updated regularly will be susceptible to viruses and cyber threats.
9. Annual Budget Planning for IT Support
Technology is here to stay, which means you need to plan for the future. What new services will you need or what downgrades should you make?
Your support team should sit down with you each year to talk about your IT budget. The key is to ensure you’re getting everything you need to improve efficiency, without going bankrupt.
IT professionals are familiar with the tools and rates, so they can help you save money on IT.
10. Software Development and Database Design
In-house software development is sometimes better than off-the-shelf tools some IT companies offer. With in-house software, you can ensure your employees have everything they need to maximize productivity.
You’ll need support services that can provide assistance with maintenance of your in-house software. Software development skills are a must in this case.
Database design is another important skill your IT support team should have. Without the proper maintenance, it can lead to the corruption of data or service issues due to unsupported database versions.
Find an IT Support Company
Now that you know what to look for in an IT company, it’s time to find one. At Find a Business That, you can search for providers with these skills.
So far in the year 2017, we’ve had nearly 1,200 incidents of data breaches. This equates to over 172 million records being exposed.
Cybercrime can potentially cost you millions of dollars or your business altogether. Don’t allow hackers to shut your company down. Get the IT support you need to stay secure.
Stop by Find a Business That to begin your search for a quality IT company.