Cybersecurity challenges come in all shapes and sizes. Phishing emails flood our inboxes with flagrant misspellings and fake invoices. Malware strains sneak into our hard drives so insidiously that they aren’t noticed for months. Some passwords are stolen through complex hacks that test millions of combinations each second—and some passwords are sloppily exposed after being written down on Post-It notes.
It isn’t easy to protect businesses from such dynamic threats. But managed IT services can make a major difference. This form of proactive support focuses on essential day-to-day functions by keeping computer systems online, protecting critical data and devices, securing networks, and empowering employees to work smarter, not harder.
The overall goal is much bigger, though. Managed IT services can provide businesses of all sizes with a major competitive advantage. Managed IT services can help growing businesses address today’s technology needs while also planning for tomorrow’s challenges. Managed IT services can even help companies respond to cybersecurity threats like ransomware and data breaches.
According to research conducted by Gartner, the average cost of network downtime can be as high as $5,600 per minute. And the average employee typically takes about 23 minutes to refocus on his or her work after being interrupted. The main priority of managed IT services is to eliminate the causes of downtime—and promote better productivity and efficiency through more uptime.
Whether your employees are still working in the same office or are now spread out across multiple time zones, managed IT services can empower everyone to maximize collaboration while staying connected. With millions of North Americans now telecommuting, most companies need to quickly deploy laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even home Wi-Fi routers to new employees while ensuring that all devices are protected by extra layers of IT security.
If you’re not regularly, remotely, and redundantly backing up company information every day, it’s not a matter of if your business will be impacted—it’s a matter of when. Many recent cyberattacks have exacted a particularly significant toll because companies didn’t have access to extra copies of relevant data. That leaves them no choice but to desperately pay a ransom for encrypted data or rebuild their IT infrastructure from scratch. Investing in this area can pay off handsomely: all it takes is one or two days of significant data downtime at the above-mentioned price of $5,600 per minute to bring a business to its knees.
According to the same Gartner report referenced above, 52% of small businesses feel helpless to defend themselves against new forms of cyber threats. And 62% of small businesses say they lack the in-house resources to properly deal with security issues. Some companies try to scrape by with a part-time employee handling computer issues on the side, but anyone who’s been impacted by a data breach or ransomware infection knows that an ad hoc level of support doesn’t cut it. Every business deserves a dedicated IT partner that understands and resolves short-term issues while also developing a long-term plan for business success.
At CMIT Solutions, we pride ourselves on providing a full menu of managed IT services. We help businesses across North America mitigate cybersecurity risks, defend mission-critical data, and resolve IT issues before they hamper day-to-day operations. We’ve diagnosed countless problems for clients in every industry and strengthened IT defenses so you can focus on growing your business.
With more than 200 offices and 800 technicians spread across North America, CMIT can match the right IT solution to the right company. Contact CMIT Solutions today to learn more about managed IT services.