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The best thing about managed services is that it costs one, affordable, consistent monthly fee. This fee enables you to keep your business systems safe, secure, and functioning, as well as including all infrastructure. For small and medium-sized businesses, in particular, managed services are also scalable to your specific needs and usage, making sure you never pay for more than you need.
The alternative to the cost of managed services, waiting until your systems need to be serviced, is risky for your business. If you wait to get help with your computer until you are having problems, getting it fixed can be particularly expensive, and you run the risk that it might not be fixable at all.
The two primary reasons for system troubles are outdated infrastructure or infected machines–usually some type of virus or malware. The problem with this scenario is that if your computer is infected, then your files are most likely corrupt. Therefore, they still need to be backed up, scanned, and repaired before they are transferred to a new system. Otherwise, you risk spreading the infection. When paying the monthly fee for a managed service provider, the cost of equipment is included, so your business will always have access to healthy and well-maintained machines.
It is easy to see that computer troubles may begin with one device, but that one infected device can spread to a server, the entire network, and every device on the network. For any business, the cost to fix and replace an entire company infrastructure will increase exponentially. Also, the expense of downtime can be devastating to the business overall. The key is to have your devices continually monitored to prevent the cost of problems later.
Previously, when infected with a virus or malware, your computer would run very slowly and would start having glitches in its performance. However, today, malware and viruses do not just break your devices anymore. More often than not, they are there to capture sensitive information such as passwords, login information, online banking, credit cards, social security numbers, contact lists, and more.
Therefore, this kind of intrusion will also lead to a breach of security on your system and your sensitive data. According to the 2019 Cost of Data Breach Study by IBM Security/Ponemon Institute, “the average size of a breach is 25,575 records containing sensitive and confidential information. Each record costs about $150 on average globally and $242 in the U.S.”
Is there any hope? Most certainly. The key is to be proactive with computer care and not reactive. Being reactive is too costly and can be detrimental. Instead, the affordable monthly fee of a managed service provider is the cost-effective solution for IT management.
At MidnightBlue, we believe that small and medium-sized businesses deserve the same IT protections and benefits as large enterprise organizations–regardless of budget. Our focus is on keeping your business secure, backed up, and running 24/7, so you can focus on running your business. Contact us today to talk about cost-effective and scalable managed services and IT solutions that make the most sense for your business and can improve your bottom line.