Your network infrastructure is a critical part of your company’s success. When it comes to handling IT you have a choice-wait till something cripples your system and then call in a professional to try fixing the problem-or take a preventative IT solution by daily monitoring via Managed Services and stop most problems before they start.
Break-fix monitoring is pretty much what its name implies-waiting for your technology to break and then fixing it. This option seems a cheaper route to go, especially if your business requires minimal network support. The only problem is when something breaks you end up suffering from network downtown while waiting for someone to come to fix it. A response time for a break fix customer tends to be slower than a managed service customer. Factor in any employee who relies on the network for phone or computer support and the money loss ads up quickly.
Managed Services is a proactive approach of handling your network. How Managed Services works is you have a monthly fee that would include any proactive monitoring, service calls, software upgrades and help desk support. A nice feature about managed services providers is the predictability of a fixed fee every month and reduced risk of network downtime, which equals more productivity for your business. An added bonus is Managed Services customers are always a priority-a necessity in the event of an emergency IT situation.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both models. IT problems are bound to happen-it is up to you to decide which option will maximize your profitability.
This is a nice general overview of break-fix and managed services. As we have converted to managed services our break-fix clients are not always sure about this new way of IT. I wish they could all see this and understand that in the end most of the time managed services is the way to go.