How Outsourced Server Support Can Help Your Business
Having an expert resource on hand without permanently employing a specialist means your business infrastructure gets the service it needs 24/7, 365 days a year, regardless of holidays or illnesses. We’re going to take a look at why server support specifically is critical to the stability of your IT infrastructure and how it can help your business to operate efficiently.
Why is server support critical for businesses today?
Servers are the lifeblood of many businesses. This is where your critical information is accessed and stored, making it essential for everything from communications and document storage to business processes and accounting. If you experience an issue with your server, then your entire business will be affected. The result can be downtime, data loss and the inability to deliver digital services to your customers, all of which can have a direct impact on your bottom line.
With server outages, failures and disruptions so costly in terms of time, money and customer trust, you need to do everything you can to keep them up to date and virus free. And that’s why getting outside help with server support can be so beneficial. It proactively prevents issues, downtime and data loss to keep your day-to-day operations running smoothly and effectively.
Common problems with servers
Servers tend to operate out of sight and out of mind, but without regular monitoring they can develop issues that may start small but become more serious over time. When you run a busy and growing business, having specialist resources to manage your servers may not be a priority. However, this can lead to businesses outgrowing their servers and experiencing some of these common signs that your server has issues:
- A slow, laggy server could be a sign that your server is getting old and is no longer able to handle software updates that are designed to work at faster rates.
- Frequent warnings over malware and viruses could indicate that your server is at an increased risk of a cyberattack.
- A lack of in-house knowledge or training to deal with problems means that your team are unable to perform internal server support tasks safely.
- Your server is running out of capacity and you’re not sure how to manage it.
- You need your server to scale with your business but are worried about harming its functionality.
- You or other staff are spending too much time on server issues and you don’t have the expertise to solve the issues you face.
- You’re frustrated by only being able to deal with problems within a 9-5 office hours window and that’s causing unwanted downtime.
If you’re affected by any of these common server problems, it’s time to weigh up the potential time, cost and stress savings that come with outsourced server support.
What server support have you tried?
When it comes to resolving some of these common server problems, there are several approaches you can take.
Firstly, you could try to solve the issue yourself. Googling the server problem you’re experiencing and trying to find a reputable source that can tell you how to solve it is time-consuming and far from an exact science. It can also lead to you ordering parts that are not compatible with your server that you need to send back, before starting the whole process again.
This approach is far from efficient and takes your attention away from running your business. So, what other options do you have?
Outsourcing your server support to specialists
Outsourced server support gives you access to dedicated experts with up-to-the-minute knowledge of the IT landscape and best practice for servers. It’s also a flexible solution that can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of your business, depending on what’s best for your business and what kind of support you need.
There are two company server support options to choose from:
Fully managed
A fully managed server support option gives you round-the-clock assistance for a fixed monthly fee. You’ll receive all server support services, including the monitoring of software updates, memory usage, CPU usage, backups, hardware age, general wear and tear and viruses. You’ll also receive ongoing assistance from a personal account manager who will develop an infrastructure strategy that can help you achieve your short-term and long-term business goals.
Hourly retainer
This option allows you to access expert company server support as and when you need it. You can purchase a certain number of hours upfront which can be used on any of the services listed above according to your requirements. This is a great fit for small businesses with limited budgets or those that perform their own basic server maintenance in-house but occasionally require more specialist assistance.
Avoid problems with your network
Find out how we can keep your business’s IT systems as robust as possible. Read more about Comms Unite support, find out what you can expect from outsourced IT support, or call 01473 599020 or email hello@comms-unite.co.uk to discuss your requirements with our team.
