Reactive & Proactive Support: Two Sides of the Coin
The same philosophy applies to your business IT solutions. Today, technology is a core component of many small and large enterprises. A small technical glitch can have a cascading effect on your organizational workflow and bring everything to a grinding halt. Each passing moment will cost you money when your workflow is left hanging in the balance. It is an unimaginable situation that you should not encounter.
However, your organization will likely face this situation unless your IT department is safely ensconced with robust support. Now comes the big question: What would you prefer- proactive or reactive support?
What is Proactive IT support?
Proactive IT services are the first choice of any business that aims to curb downtime costs. In health care, “Prevention is better than cure.” In IT support, ” Prevention is better than repair.” Proactive support is a smarter approach to maintaining stable and secure systems through a proactive IT services provider.
With proactive IT support, problems are likely to be fixed before they worsen. And because your provider is always on duty, there is consistent maintenance and network monitoring.
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What is Reactive IT support?
Reactive IT support is the “break-fix” solution because nothing is fixed until the need arrives. Businesses that go with a reactive plan do not team up with an IT services provider. Rather, they call for the service to come onsite only when there’s a problem.
Network downtime and human error are two big risks with reactive IT support because this model makes no provision to prevent technical issues. Your workflow and other processes may be temporarily stopped until the IT professional identifies and rectifies the issue. This is time-consuming and raises the risk of potential errors.
Consequences & Costs of Reactive Vs. Proactive Support
When investing in a business IT solution, you have to consider the buying cost and the maintenance expenses. The buying cost is a one-time expense, but it is the maintenance cost that determines if the investment is worth the trouble.
You have to be extra careful when it comes to your IT solutions because the internet is a highly risky and dangerous world. Since most of your IT solutions are powered by the internet, your network and devices need ample protection.
The FBI has already sounded the warning. Recently, the Bureau reported a 400% increase in cyber-related crimes like phishing and hacking. Although these crimes were the main cause of data breaches, poor security settings and user-error-related problems have jumped to the second spot.
In this precarious situation, what would happen if you hoped for the best and opted for reactive IT support to take care of cyber security? You could be the next victim of a ransomware attack or data breach. This carelessness could knock down one thing after another like a domino effect, leading to irreversible damage.
On the other hand, proactive support guards your business systems like a well-protected fortress. Although proactive services are expensive, they give you a lot in return for your payment. Done correctly, proactive support significantly reduces the risk of security breaches and saves you from many unplanned expenses and trouble.
Whether proactive or reactive, both options come with their own pros and cons that you should know about. Although it looks all rosy, proactive support does have its disadvantages. Likewise, reactive support might be a better choice for certain businesses. So let’s get down to the details.
Pros & Cons of Reactive & Proactive IT Support
Proactive support: Benefits
Proactive support is like a complete master health checkup that allows you to identify and treat health issues before they worsen. Businesses that prioritize cyber security, compliance, and organizational reputation prefer proactive IT support no matter what it costs. The advantages of this support include:
- Round-the-clock monitoring to ensure malware-free IT systems
- Improved speed, accuracy, and efficiency
- Reduced downtime with continuous monitoring
- Generation of analytics and data reports through automated tools
- Better decision-making with real-time data
- Better strategy planning for long-term success
- Robust disaster recovery plans to protect data
Disadvantages
The only disadvantage of proactive IT support is the cost, which may deter small and upcoming businesses. However, when you calculate the long-term benefits, the cost is a worthwhile investment that keeps your company in safe hands.
Reactive IT support
The main advantage of reactive IT support is that it’s the only way to address a problem as soon as it occurs. Reactive support extends help when you encounter a new problem to which you are unsure how to respond. Therefore, you will be billed only for the services rendered to fix the problems.
This variable fee is ideal for organizations running on a tight budget. Besides, some businesses like knowing they can contact IT support if there are problems with their network. This ensures peace of mind in a digital world where there are experts to diagnose problems and fix them.
Disadvantages
Reactive IT support may not be an ideal solution because of it:
- Exposes the vulnerabilities of the business
- Cannot nip issues in the bud before they worsen
- Halts the operations and increases the downtime
- Causes irreversible damage to the company’s reputation
- Causes loss of customers and clients
- Hurts employee productivity and efficiency
- This leads to financial repercussions
Evaluate & Decide What’s Best for Your Business
Now that you have a comprehensive idea of proactive and reactive IT support, it is time to arrive at a decision.
While reactive IT support may seem like a cost-effective solution, there’s no saying how much expense you may incur when an IT problem hits you hard. If that’s not enough, think about the increased downtime and lost revenue that will snowball into worse consequences.
Contrariwise, proactive support is a sensible investment that automatically identifies issues before you do. So, what do you want? Peace of mind or chaos? A stress-free solution or last-minute confusion?
Choosing proactive IT support is a wiser choice. CMIT Solutions, Tempe, offers the best proactive IT support for big and small organizations. Get in touch with our team to discuss your requirements.
