In today's business environment, one of the keys to success rests on the ability of an enterprise's computer system to operate in a dependable and consistently responsive manner. Unfortunately, with the sheer volume and pace of the changes constantly affecting critical applications and devices, the complexity of staying ahead of potential IT problems that work to slow mission critical workflow is slowly, but surely, overwhelming many small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) with limited response resources.
Since it is frequently the case that SMBs are unable to maintain in-house computer assistance capabilities, many of these companies are increasingly turning to overall managed services support solutions to meet the host of IT needs essential to staying competitive. Such an option provides these businesses with a cost effective method of maintaining crucial application availability and optimal performance – which can spell the difference between survival and extinction.
IT Partnering
One of the most common problems for many SMBs is that they are operating on a thin profit margin that constrains their ability to regularly update equipment and software. Additionally, they are often unable to maintain an in-house IT team, or suffer from rapid turnover, leading to inconsistencies in their support structure.
To remedy this problem, many IT consulting organizations are now providing internet technology hosting services that enable such enterprises to deactivate their in-house capacity and begin receiving the same functions as services, similar to a traditional utility. In this manner, all of the essential needs of the computing system are delivered by their IT partner, usually at a negotiated fixed monthly fee.
Most IT consulting firms are even able to tailor their hosting services to conform to the specific needs various enterprises may have that fall short of involving their entire network requirements. For example, some enterprises may only have a need for:
Specialized software – a particular application (or several) that they need access to which they want to avoid purchasing and constantly updating themselves
Hardware – a specific piece of computing equipment whose expense they wish to avoid incurring
Routine ongoing maintenance – a need to rid themselves of commonplace service tasks that interfere with day-to-day operations
Professional IT consulting providers come to the rescue of SMBs in these, and other situations, enabling them to flexibly address whatever their particular unmet IT needs happen to be.
IT Assessments
Beyond such important services as these, today's top line IT consulting firms are also positioned to deliver critical assessment and design advice to help SMBs stay proficient and maintain peek productivity.
With such an IT services provider an enterprise is able to arrange and implement virtualization desktop frameworks that meet specific business needs, as well as evaluate a host of Citrix related issues such as:
XenApp & XenDesktop servers – configuration, patching, and consistency issues
Network health
Citrix profile issues
Printing setup concerns
Disk storage layout
IT Management
Many SMBs possess relatively new hardware and software systems that they would prefer to maintain, yet seek to hand over the operational management of the system to trained professionals so that they can maintain their own focus on business critical functions.
With such an IT solution in-place, enterprises are able to more easily:
Update their existing systems
Decide between moving to a Data Center, or keeping their in-house capacity
Choose between system driven performance monitoring, or outsourced operation
Professional IT services providers are able to give companies expert advice on such issues, as well as developing the design and implementation arrangements to bring such projects to fruition.
IT consulting firms are also able to provide a network of critical support functions that allow SMBs to keep their infrastructure in-house, yet free themselves of the million and one details of maintaining the system at the peek operating efficiency. Typically these services include key areas such as:
Dedicated system monitoring & management – overseeing systems at the individual level to identify abnormal response times and performance parameters for quick analysis and repair.
Individual account management – in which specific IT experts maintain a detailed familiarity with an enterprise's system, thus providing instant, consistent consultation on network specifics affecting production and performance.
Patch & update management – with so many software applications requiring frequent critical updates and fixes, this alone can fully occupy the IT operations of many SMBs. Professional IT support consultants are able to efficiently manage these functions, saving SMBs time and money.
The bottom line is that with a competent professional IT consulting firm in their corner, today's SMBs are more able than ever to acquire the highest state-of-the-art computing network and productivity capacity, and still keep their entire focus on business critical activities while their network delivers peak, worry free performance.