Yes....I think this is the answer to helping SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) begin to cut costs. The challenge is to understand which parts to automate that will ultimately save you money. A lot of managed services companies today want to come in and give a business one fixed monthly fee to managed the entire network and all issues. In some cases this is good. If the price is in line with what the business should be paying for annualized IT support. In some cases it is overkill. For some companies I suggest baby steps. Why not automate antivirus or backup to start. See how it can benefit your company by putting your big toe in the water before making the plunge. A simple example is backup. If this is a managed solution it happens automatically, every day and virtually no interaction is required by your IT consulting firm. If it is a traditional backup to tape or disc solution it can require hours of consulting work to constantly tweak the backup software and reset jobs that have failed. When you look at the total costs this an easy ROI. Even if you cannot make the numbers make sense on a yearly basis just think about the peace of mind knowing you have a disaster recovery solution in place. Most businesses that have a complete data loss never recover. Most business owners know this but they don't know how to make sure they have their bases covered. There are easy, affordable, automated solutions available. If you just start with automating backup, for instance, it can cost as little as $100.00/month. Not a huge investment but a huge weight off your mind. So if you are looking for ways to save money in this tough economy consider taking a baby step and automating a thing or two. You might just find you sleep better at night too.
Thanks for reading.
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