By Rich Kenney
Co-Founder and Vice President, TechSolutions, Inc.
When a family member wrecked our SUV, I was just happy everyone was okay. Both drivers were, understandably, a little rattled.
We have comprehensive auto insurance coverage. Comprehensive being the keyword. “Comprehensive” means all-embracing, all-inclusive, compendious, complete, global, in-depth, inclusive, omnibus, universal. Because we had comprehensive car insurance, and I knew that everyone was safe, I never worried about the vehicles involved in the accident. I just knew we were covered.
Your IT vendor should give you the same confidence. If you are going to hire an IT firm to help your business and give you the ability to concentrate on other important duties such as running your business, they should give you the feeling that everything will be handled, that everything is functional, that data is protected, and that everything happens on cues you might have been promised a long time ago.
Today, the concept of “comprehensive” IT coverage means more than it ever has. As it always has, it means providing a helpful team to solve any computer problems reported by your staff. It means quick turnaround on service issues, and the ability to resolve those problems correctly the first time. It means working proactively to prevent issues from ever even occurring. If you add relatively new requirements for today’s world to that list, comprehensive means so much more. It means constant vigilance and recommendations so that cyber thieves can’t steal your data. It means training your staff to be better prepared to fight those cyber thieves. It means receiving advice about new issues like choosing between cloud vs on-premise strategies and preparing your network for compliance requirements. It means being prepared and able to help through business changes like expansion, office relocation, and surprise pandemics. Comprehensive IT means you are covered for all the issues that can challenge your business from a technology perspective.
Our comprehensive offering, also called PointCare Complete, is meant to provide you peace of mind knowing that our job is to take care of the technological needs of your users. You don’t have to worry about how many hours are spent resolving an issue because your monthly bill isn’t based on time spent. It is based on a metric such as a number of employees or number of computers, which is not only a very scalable model, it offers you the ability to create a true IT budget for the year outside of project work. You understand that adding an8-person department to help with your company’s new initiative will influence your IT budget, but you know what that effect will be without having to guess.
To have “comprehensive” IT coverage we believe it takes three special things:
- Team of Skilled Professionals: A set of professionals who are specialists in hardware, software, networking, cybersecurity, and other newer technology skills such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. No single person can achieve such a level of skill that they are all-inclusive, complete, or global … they can’t cover it all, all the time.
- Advanced Automation: Great tools that automate the process of monitoring and managing your network, your computers, and cyberthreats. Problems need to be identified and either be prevented or be acted upon before your staff reports them. The IT world is leaping forward at lightspeed. Today, managed IT support depends on smart, enterprise-class technology that is dependent on ideas such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
- Trust: All the people and all the great tools will not let you sleep through a hurricane or survive a pandemic with minimum interruption if you are not working with people you trust to do their job successfully and efficiently. This is likely the promise that was made at the beginning of your relationship and it speaks volumes about TRUST. You need to let them do their job, and they need to be able to do the job. You should be partners in technology with your IT vendor.
Over the past several years, TechSolutions has added new services, including additional cybersecurity services and options for data management, that deliver even more protections and efficiencies. The goal of most of our newer offerings is to provide you with a better and greater comprehensive IT support plan. As you might require from your auto insurance carrier, one of our jobs is to always be improving and providing a greater result. That, my friends, is comprehensive coverage.
While we understand that comprehensive coverage isn’t for everyone because there is an inherent fee associated, it does have its benefits. Creating an IT budget is easy. Gone is the 15-minute charge for that thing they did last week to help you. Nights can be spent resting easy that all is well.
Let us know if you would like to discuss the benefits of our plan, PointCare Complete. If it works for your needs, it might be something to consider. It’s nice to know that you and your business is covered “comprehensively”.