Is Your Business Using The Right Support Plan?

This article can provide some practical advice on how to cut monthly technology fees and still securely maintain your computers and servers. Many businesses were drawn to monthly support plans with the promise of fast access to a helpdesk and remote monitoring of backup systems such as testing off-site or tape backups. A large number of businesses benefited from these types of plans and even after the economy began to slow and office staff began to reduce in size many companies found them selves still paying these monthly fees even though these companies no longer benefited from this type of support plan. Taking a step back and evaluating your technology support needs can be a smart move that may open up some financial freedom for your business.

Here are some things to consider,

Speak with your current technology support company about changing to a pay as you need service plan and see what they have to offer. Your technology support company should be there to make your life easier and should provide simple to understand support plans to switch to and if you find that is not the case it may be time to look at technology support replacement alternatives.

When switching from a monthly plan to a pay as you need service plan it is important to have as many of the weekly or daily I.T. tasks performed via script or automated. Such as disk maintenance, removal of temporary files that no longer provide any benefit to the machine, Anti-virus updates and scans. Windows and Office updates and patches. All of these items and more can be automatically setup to run, scan, update and resolve issues on a nightly basis at no monthly expense to your business and this will help to cut down on as needed service requests as well as reduce time spent on your network when service is being performed.

Remember just because you are switching away from a monthly plan does not mean you should expect longer response times and a decreased level of support. Some not so reputable account reps might try to use scare tactics to lead to conclusions that moving away from this type of plan could put your network at great risk when in reality it is their bottom line that is really what’s at risk. Find a friendly and knowledgeable support company with quick response times and an affordable solution to keep your backups safe and working. They should be easy to get along with and willing to discuss all your options with you. Most all technology support companies offer same day service for urgent service requests without committing to a monthly service plan.

Much of our own customer base has changed from a monthly service plan to a retainer or pay as needed for services rendered plan. On average all inclusive monthly support plans are about $50 per computer per month, for a company of 20 computers that’s a saving of $1,000 per month that could be spent elsewhere.

Need more full service or hands-on maintenance and solutions?
Contact Atlanta IT Services; trusted, certified, professional Information Technology support.