Priorities and Preparation: Being Proactive
You don’t need to be a student of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to know that being proactive vs. being reactive gets better results. And yet, we often see organizations fail to be proactive when it comes to their IT resources. This is due in large part to a number of misconceptions, most of which can be dispelled under close examination. In fact, proactive maintenance comes with numerous benefits.
Use your resources wisely
One of the myths about proactive maintenance is that it’s too expensive. This simply isn’t true. Not only is proactive maintenance far more affordable than decision-makers often assume, but it’s a huge cost saver over time. Things can get out of control quickly when there’s an IT emergency you must fix “at any cost.”
Proactive maintenance helps make sure you don’t find yourself in that situation. Analyze your IT costs over the past year or two. Most organizations that are dealing with their IT reactively will find they’re spending more than they need to, either because they are having costly emergencies, or are forced to make snap decisions without cost-saving analysis.
Minimize downtime
Another myth associated with proactive maintenance is that it disrupts daily operations. This is also untrue, especially if you have third-party professionals performing said maintenance. Gone are the days when every little adjustment meant taking the system offline for hours (or days). Most managed IT service providers can carry out proactive maintenance without you even noticing it’s happening.
Plus, it actually helps minimize downtime. You’ll find that proactively addressing maintenance concerns reduces unexpected downtime. Even if your maintenance does require a minimal amount of downtime, scheduled downtime is far less disruptive than unexpected downtime, which comes with other risks as well.
Improve security
The security landscape is in constant motion and the only way to keep abreast is to be proactive. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of IT management when it comes to behaving proactively. While you can fix many reactive scenarios with extra time and money investment, a data breach is another situation entirely. Once a hacker gains access to your company’s data, or your customer’s or client’s personal information, there’s no way to undo that action. Proactive maintenance will help you to achieve better security and is truly one of the most critical preventative measures your organization can take.
Protect against data loss
Hopefully, your organization is already proactive about backups—if not, they should be! However, even if you already have a robust data backup policy in place, you should review your backup practices and test them regularly to make sure they’re functioning well.
Avoid crises
Finally, proactive maintenance has an advantage that you’ll never see, but appreciate all the same – it’ll help your organization avoid an unexpected IT crisis. When your IT policies are reactive rather than proactive, there’s always a potential disaster around the corner. Proactive maintenance may not prevent every unexpected IT challenge, but it will help you avoid the majority of them (and the most damaging).
