Has Your Office Outgrown Your IT Guy?

When business owners and doctors open a new office, there is plenty of space to move around. Eventually, business grows and new technologies are plugged into aging infrastructures. It doesn’t take long for an IT system to become a sort of Frankenstein 2.0. Meanwhile, your trusted IT guy who you depend on as a service provider and friend seems to be taking more time than ever maintaining your system and fixing problems. If this sounds familiar, you might be outgrowing your IT guy.

The World Beyond IT Guys

IT guys are a blessing and a curse. For most business owners, the hourly service rates make sense. Like plumbers, electricians, and other service industries, hourly rates are the norm, but there is one major difference: The piping a plumber works on can last for decades and very little changes over time. IT has a much shorter shelf life and technologies are constantly evolving, it needs to be actively managed.

Active IT management is a proactive approach to IT. Planning, maintaining, and upgrading an IT system might sound expensive, but it’s actually much more affordable than reacting to computer problems in a crisis. Instead of hourly charges, a fixed monthly rate means you can plan your IT expenses ahead of time. A fixed rate also gives IT service providers an incentive to make your systems work dependably since they’ll lose money on a system that continues to experience problems.

Parting with an IT guy isn’t always easy, but if you are that close, you are probably seeing him too much anyway. IT service providers like Centerpoint have the resources to monitor your hardware and actively manage your IT systems. Office tools and computers should seamlessly integrate with your workflow. Unplanned downtime and business interruptions from a Frankenstein’ed IT system is a problem of the past. Instead of paying someone hourly, you can spend less and get more with managed IT services.