It’s an all too common scenario: one minute you’re working as usual, and the next, a sudden network outage stops you dead in your tracks. Suddenly, it’s impossible to accomplish the daily tasks of running your business, and work is piling up.
With the unique challenges that go along with being a small business owner in northeastern Oklahoma, an unpredictable network can mean the difference between success and failure.
If you run a small- to medium-sized business in Tulsa, you can’t afford to be without quality I.T. support. Here are a few ways teaming up with an I.T. managed services provider with expertise in network support can banish those worries for good.
1. Reducing Downtime
According to Gartner, network outages cost an average of $5,600 per minute. While this cost varies based on industry and the size of the company affected, one thing is clear: downtime decreases revenue. Your business depends on a reliable network, and every minute lost represents a significant loss in profits.
If you’ve ever experienced a sudden outage due to inclement weather (or one person tripping on a stray cable), you already know how expensive they can be. With a network support provider, you can get instant help restoring connectivity if your network goes down, and additional assistance to avoid outages in the future.
2. Implementing Network Monitoring
One of the most vital services of any network support provider is network monitoring. This involves automated detection, reporting, and resolution of incidents. Oftentimes, a connectivity problem can be resolved overnight before a provider’s client even becomes aware of it.
Your provider can also create detailed reports about network usage and suggest future improvements to speed and performance based on the data they gather, customizing the network to fit your needs.
3. Providing Cost Savings
A network support provider can save you money in more ways than just preventing downtime. For example, they can assist you in transitioning from a CAPEX model to an OPEX model, which will save you money throughout the life of your business.
They also make it easy to predict how much of your budget you’ll spend on network maintenance, as opposed to rolling the dice when it comes to repair costs and connectivity. Your provider will also have specialized expertise regarding emerging technologies and can suggest ways to improve your network that existing I.T. employees might not be aware of, all while allowing your I.T. department to be more productive.
4. Increasing I.T. Efficiency
Because your current I.T. employees will be less occupied with dealing with mundane, frustrating connectivity issues, they will be free to work on projects geared toward assisting with core competencies.
This will give your employees the opportunity to learn more about technologies they can implement that will help your day-to-day operations, saving you money in the long term. In addition, an MSP will provide remote help desk assistance, allowing I.T. employees to spend less time solving simple computer problems and more time making significant improvements to your technological architecture.
5. Improving Network Architecture
An effective support provider can introduce network solutions that fit your business, not the other way around. With a customized, scalable network, your company will be poised for growth and able to meet the challenges of a changing marketplace.
Putting reliable network architecture in place will allow you to succeed for years to come, even if the needs of your customers change over time. Ask your provider about the type of network they recommend and learn how extensive its reach and connectivity are.
6. Guaranteeing Network Availability
A managed service provider with network support services is often able to maintain network availability as much as 99.999% of the time. Often, MSPs offer service level agreements (SLAs) to this effect, letting their clients know that they are accountable for every second of downtime.
These agreements guarantee availability, network uptime, and response and resolution times so that clients can be sure that their network will remain operational—no matter what happens. When combined with cloud backup and a disaster recovery and business continuity plan, network support means that you don’t have to be concerned about losing valuable data.
7. Providing Proactive Network Management
Instead of scrambling to respond every time there is a problem with network connectivity, you can make proactive changes with the help of a network support provider.
Your provider can identify weak points in your network architecture and propose improvements that will prevent a crisis from happening, as well as providing both historical and real-time reporting of usage to help you plan for the future. With this information, you’ll be poised to make any necessary changes that will help to increase performance.
Tulsa Businesses Benefit from Moving Online
With more and more business operations being handled digitally, a robust and well-supported network is increasingly important for small- and medium-sized business owners in Tulsa. Strong I.T. and network support can supply a strong foundation that increases competitiveness and accelerates growth.
This is especially true for those who rely on websites for purchases and lead generation, as well as those companies that need to maintain a fast network for communication between team members.
With so much depending on network reliability, small to medium-sized businesses stand to reap considerable benefits from seeking out network support.
The Tulsa chapter of SCORE, a nationwide volunteer organization aimed at advising small business owners, recently noted that as many as half of local businesses have not yet invested in I.T. initiatives strategically designed to boost growth.
That means many Tulsa business owners are missing out on one of the key tools that can help them achieve success.
The seven areas noted above are just a few examples of the types of benefits that business owners can count on once they have established a stable, high-speed network with around-the-clock monitoring and support.
A reliable network is the foundation of so many vital business processes, from website performance to in-house communication. To learn more about how our network support solutions can benefit your business, call 844-44-JMARK, send us an email at [email protected] or get in touch using the Contact Us page of our website.
