Month: September 2021

5 Benefits of Managed IT Services for the Remote Workforce

The benefits of managed IT services for Adelaide businesses are clear. But what about those of your team who don’t work in the office?

Here’s the thing. Managed IT services are made for the modern workplace, and can even provide more benefit for your remote workforce.

1. Improve your operational efficiency

Working and operating remotely by nature, their services are built to enable remote working situations. So your managed IT service’s workflows, processes, and practices are already designed to integrate with your remote teams. They can work with you to improve your IT systems and workflows so they’re optimised for remote work, too.

2. Available when your staff need them

With your teams working remotely, their work hours have likely changed. That’s not to say they’re working around the clock—we sincerely hope not—but they may be starting earlier, or finishing later, to better help them balance their work life with home life.

Your Managed IT service provider does the same. Their teams understand that flexible, responsive service is critical. So while they may not work around-the-clock either, you can rest assured that your Managed IT company in Adelaide doesn’t clock off at 4.30pm. Instead, they’ll offer flexible service options that match your business hours, whether you need coverage for 8.30am to 5.30pm, 7am to 7pm, or 24-hour support. The best Managed IT providers may also have a 24-hour hotline, ensuring you’re always able to get help in an emergency, no matter the hour.

3. Facilitate growth with long-term IT strategy

Your Managed IT services provider doesn’t just support your business with its day-to-day tech needs. They also provide long-term, holistic IT strategy and support. They can work with you to understand your business’ needs, and those of your remote workforce, to ensure that solutions are built into your business’ plan that continue to optimise how your remote workforce operates.

They can provide strategic IT planning as part of their IT support to your Adelaide business, to ensure you have the room and capability to grow. And they’ll be growing with you. This ensures your business has the right tools, software, and devices available, dependent on the needs of your workers and your business plan, and that ongoing reviews and upgrades are planned in to ensure this situation continues for the long term.

4. Improved flexibility

Flexibility is critical to ensuring your remote workforce is able to manage their workload and day-to-day operations efficiently and effectively. Luckily, your Managed IT service provider in Adelaide is set up in a way that maximises flexibility in how they work, too. They understand the challenges and opportunities that remote work brings, so their systems are set up to ensure your business can take advantage of these. 

They’re able to provide you with advice and guidance on the best software and tools to use that improve the flexibility of your remote workforce. Whether it’s better channels for team communication, more effective tools for departmental collaboration, or if it’s just providing easier ways for your staff to contact their friendly Managed IT support staff for questions and queries.

Your Managed IT service provider works with you to ensure your staff have the freedom to work anywhere, and that they’re set up to do it as effectively as possible.

5. Faster response in emergency situations

Your Managed IT service provider is already working remotely, so this means they already have the response mechanisms in place should emergencies occur. In a situation where proactive issue avoidance and maintenance isn’t possible, they’re able to jump into action at a moment’s notice, and access your systems and devices, and begin working on solving your problem immediately.

This works both for cyber and physical threats, too. 

Take the example of an office fire. Your Managed IT company in Adelaide ideally already has your data working on a remote backup service. This means that all your important business documentation and information is all stored safely and securely on a cloud server, meaning there’s no chance of things getting lost in an office fire.

In terms of cyber threats, your Managed IT service provider will typically provide proactive cyber threat management, and have your antivirus and security processes updated with the latest versions. Look at the example of the Microsoft Exchange server data breach earlier in 2021. Your Managed IT service provider would have heard about this, then quickly worked to patch your system with Microsoft’s fix, without you needing to even ask them to do so.

Your Managed IT provider has plans in place to react smoothly and seamlessly, and come online to help your business in emergency situations, regardless of where they’re situated.

Set your teams up for success with the leading Managed IT company in Adelaide

At GPK Group we understand just how important Managed IT support services are for your remote workforce, so we deliver comprehensive and robust Managed IT services for Adelaide businesses. 

Contact us today to discuss how our Managed IT services can help your remote workforce thrive. 

Are Managed IT Services Cost-Effective for Businesses?

Managed IT services are a cost-effective way for businesses to get the most out of their IT support.

But that doesn’t tell the whole truth. More accurately, Managed IT services actually help your Adelaide business save money in the long run, and even improve how it operates.

Here’s how they do it.

Actively reduce your business’ downtime

Your Managed Services provider delivers proactive IT support to your Adelaide business. The key word here is proactive. They put processes in place to ensure your business enjoys as much up-time as possible.

Proactive monitoring means your Managed IT support provider is able to catch and fix any errors before they become issues. They’re also a lot more responsive should you need reactive support. Your Managed IT service provider will be available for phone support, hardware issues, or special requests, working to guaranteed response times. The less you need their immediate services, the more effective their delivery is.

Optimise how your business operates

By providing proactive support, your Managed IT service provider gets to know your business’ systems, networks, and devices much more comprehensively than a traditional IT company in Adelaide. This means they get to understand the best and most efficient ways that you can configure your network and system settings. 

They’ll be able to provide advice on better ways to manage workflows and processes, and identify tools and platforms your business can utilise to improve your service delivery and performance. It could be as straightforward as helping your business adopt a new communication tool. Or it could be as in-depth as managing the migration of your data storage to a cloud provider.

Their role is to get your business’ IT needs running at peak efficiency—and from there your business operations will follow.

Reduce your IT budget

Engaging a Managed IT company for your Adelaide business delivers a significant cost benefit, and can help you save on your IT spend. Rather than engaging an IT support provider every time you need an issue fixed, or advice, your Managed IT service provider will be engaged on a flat, monthly fee, to deliver a specific service level.

Traditional IT support relies on a break/fix model, so thinking about it cynically, the more issues you need fixing, the more you’ll require their services. Managed IT support, on the other hand, focuses on your business’ uptime. The more efficient they can help your business be, the more value you’ll see in their services. So instead of calling out tech support to fix issues, at prices that vary depending on the service and solution, your Managed IT service provider will be on call as part of their monthly contract.

They can also advise on where your business can reduce its IT overheads. This could be things like auditing your network and identifying redundant devices and software licences, or seeing where you could upgrade old energy-sapping hardware into newer, more energy-efficient versions. Small savings like this add up, and your Managed IT support service provider can work with you to identify them.

Build room for growth

The IT support needs of your Adelaide business are only likely to grow—so it’s important that you’re prepared for this growth. 

Your Managed IT services provider can ensure that your business’ IT growth is taken into account in your long-term planning. They’ll work with you to deliver a plan that provides clear steps to take and processes to follow to expand your IT infrastructure needs as your user base builds, and as your company scales. When your platforms need to be updated, your managed IT service provider will already have a plan in place to ensure your platforms, software, and systems are upgraded to ensure your IT capabilities match your growth trajectory. Their team itself is just as flexible, and they’ve got the capability and technological ability to manage your IT needs whether you’ve got a team of 20, or 200.

Protect your business’ data

The right cyber protection is worth its weight in gold. So working with the right Managed IT company provides your Adelaide business with thorough and effective cyber security that saves you more than just dollars. 

The right Managed IT provider will work with you to ensure your business has all the necessary antivirus and cyber threat protection in place, and keep these up to date against the latest threats. They also provide tools, monitoring, and proactive support to ensure cyberattacks never have the chance to become an issue for your business in the first place.

A Managed IT support provider for your Adelaide business can help you manage your data backup processes, too. They’re able to deliver regular backup services, whether to an external location, a cloud server, or both, to give you peace of mind that your business’ important data is always safe and up to date—no matter what happens.

Get peace of mind with the leading Managed IT company in Adelaide

Managed IT services aren’t just cost-effective—they can keep your business safe against cyber threats, while providing processes to improve your operational efficiency. It’s win-win-win. GPK Group delivers comprehensive—and cost-effective—Managed IT services for Adelaide businesses. Get in touch with us today to discuss what a tailored Managed IT solution can help your organisation achieve.

6 Signs It’s Time to Upgrade Your Managed IT Service Provider

Breaking up is never easy—even more so if it’s a service provider for your business.

But, often, it’s necessary. And as a growing business in a digital world, there may come a time when you need to break up with your Managed IT services provider. 

Instead, it helps to think of it as upgrading instead. Here are 6 signs it’s time to upgrade the Managed IT services for your Adelaide business.

1. A lack in expertise

Your Managed IT services team should be IT experts. The core of their role is to take care of your IT needs, and stay on top of emerging IT trends, new technologies, and best practice protocol. 

So if your managed IT service provider isn’t delivering on these requirements, if they’re making promises they can’t keep, or if their service level agreement seems to change at a whim, then it’s time to upgrade to someone who delivers a higher level of expertise.

2. Not providing proactive services

SImilar to expertise, when you engage a Managed IT service provider you expect them to manage the full scope of your IT. They come on board as your IT partner, and take care of the assessment, planning, and long-term IT strategy for you.

You rely on them to map out your business long-term IT needs, and then put processes in place to ensure your software, hardware, network, and security is managed, backed-up, and upgraded proactively. So if this is occurring, it’s time to move on.

3. Slow response times

You rely on your managed service provider to keep your business up and running. Server crashes, software errors, or hardware failures can be an annoyance. Network or internet outages can be disastrous. If these occur, your managed service provider should be on top of the problem immediately. They’ll let you know what’s going on, and how they’re fixing the problem.

If you’re left waiting for your managed services provider to respond, they can cost you dearly.

For a small business, critical outages and internet downtime can cost you anywhere up to $2,000 per hour. 

If they’re not delivering on their defined response times, it’s time to look for someone new.

4. Cracks in your security

You can’t take any chances when it comes to your business’ data security. So if you start to notice cracks in your Managed IT services’ security provision, then it’s time to reconsider who you’re partnering with.

Their security systems need to be up-to-date. They need to be the ones proactively patching your software, upgrading your systems, and reviewing your network architecture for vulnerabilities—not you. 

At a minimum, they should provide you with The Essential Eight security model. While this may not always be obvious, it should be a given. You shouldn’t have to check if your data is being backed up automatically, or if your firewall and antivirus software is doing its job.

If they’re not providing you with a regular security update, or at least have a security portal where you can access this information yourself, it could be an indication their cybersecurity services aren’t as mature as your business needs them to be.

5. Poor customer experience

A Managed IT services provider should act as your partner. Their role is to integrate seamlessly with your business and deliver on your IT needs. So you’re within your rights to expect a certain level of customer service.

If you find it difficult to interact with your Managed IT service provider, if you’re walking on eggshells every time you speak with them, or worried about requesting support, then it’s time to move on.

Also, how they treat their own staff says a lot about their priorities. Regular new staff is a sign of growth—but if they have a rotating carousel of staff leaving, then it’s not a good sign for how they treat their clients, or your vendors.

6. They’re not growing with you

You’ll know if your managed service provider isn’t growing with you.

They might struggle to provide timely service. They might not have the staff available to provide the support you need. They might not be across the latest tech.

They may also have defined client profiles in their agreement—and if your business reaches a certain number of users, then it may be time for them to cut you free.

Discover Managed IT support for your Adelaide business that grows as you do

If it’s time to upgrade the Managed IT services for your Adelaide business, GPK Group is here to help you take the next step.

So don’t think of it as a break-up: think of it as an upgrade. Get in touch with us today to discuss a Managed IT solution for your business.