Modern advancements in technology and the tremendous growth of the internet and its usage has impacted how we do just about everything. We shop online. We order takeout online. We can even use video chat to have doctors’ appointments online, from the comfort of our own home. You can do so much without ever having to leave the house.
Another significant change is that we often expect services and products to be available 24/7 because we’ve shifted to an “always-on” world. Now, instead of typical 9-to-5 service hours, we can contact businesses at all hours of the day. If we need help, we expect to be able to send an email or make a call and get assistance straight away. In some cases, we even expect to be able to send a message on social media and get a response from someone who can help us within seconds.
So how does the technological landscape deal with the pressure to be “always on” and provide round-the-clock access and support? For many industries, providing 24/7 service seems impossible. But as businesses rely more and more on technology, the IT sector is one area that has taken major strides in adapting to consumer expectations, and proper IT management can and does actually allow businesses to achieve 24/7 support.
How Has This “Always On” Expectation Changed the Business Technology Landscape?
The business technology landscape has evolved immensely over the last decade. The expectation to be always working and always available has pushed technology businesses to make changes to adapt to the growing needs of consumers.
For modern businesses that are now almost completely reliant on technology to perform day-to-day operations, IT issues that cause downtime or present security challenges can be detrimental to profits. As the IT industry recognized the growing need to provide immediate support to businesses who have become dependent on their tech, an opportunity arose for IT service providers to fill that need.
Managed Service Providers Provide Round-the-Clock Support
At face value, the expectation to be always on might seem wildly unrealistic. But the advent of Managed IT Service Providers (often known as MSPs) and their unique business model has actually given way to the round-the-clock tech support businesses are so desperately seeking so that they, too, can stay “always on.”
Because IT issues don’t discriminate based on time of day, businesses figure that neither should their IT support. Servers go down. Computers fail. Websites crash. For businesses who rely on a small in-house team, it’s difficult to cope with the need for immediate support, but for those who rely on outsourced MSPs to manage their IT, they have found a way to provide 24/7 services to fix these issues no matter when they occur.
This is because Managed Service Providers operate on many different levels, including both remotely and on-site, and their management setup allows them to work at all hours. They monitor your systems 24/7 using threat detection technology so that, even in the middle of the night, work is being done to protect your systems without your MSP actually needing to be at your business location.
Additionally, because MSPs offer remote support, their help-desk can more easily stay open at all hours to address IT issues. Many MSPs also offer emergency on-site services so that issues that require immediate attention can get it. When businesses get round-the-clock support themselves, they are better equipped to be “always on” for their own clients and customers.
Building a Preventative Approach to IT Issues
The 24/7 system monitoring that MSPs provide is part of their larger approach to be proactive about IT maintenance. That means that instead of using the outdated break/fix method (only fixing an issue when it visibly arises), they are actively seeking ways to make your systems more efficient and more secure. They can detect vulnerabilities and downtime causes immediately, allowing them to patch them right away and prevent future issues.
This effort to constantly reduce downtime and the potential for a future data breach is what allows MSP’s clients to gain the competitive advantage they need—which is the ability to also be “always-on” for their clients and customers. By eliminating issues that cause system failures or data loss, businesses can remain up-and-running at all time.
With the proper IT management, businesses are able to provide what customers are demanding—continual support and service. While these demands aren’t easy to achieve, experienced Managed Service Providers have made it possible to manage your IT in such a way that prevents downtime and security threats, thus making your systems more reliable and less subject to outages that can impact your quality of service.
from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/uncategorized/the-pressure-to-be-always-on-in-todays-business-technology-landscape/
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