IT enables Australian companies to work more efficiently, understand customers, improve their bottom line, and more recently, deploy remote work environments. The problem, however, is that businesses don’t have enough people to manage and resolve technical issues.
IT management is not a one-person job. Managing company networks, cybersecurity, hardware, cloud apps, and more can overwhelm an in-house technician. These tasks distract them from critical duties, like researching new technology trends and formulating IT strategies. One solution is hiring more technicians, but setting up an internal IT department is expensive. You’d have to pay a fortune for full-time salaries, benefits, superannuation, equipment, and training.
The better alternative is to opt for co-managed IT services. Co-managed services is a partnership between a business and managed IT services provider (MSP). The latter supports the former’s internal IT department. MSPs can fill that role if your in-house technicians don’t have time to oversee the company infrastructure. With the right MSP partner, co-managed services offer a host of benefits to your business.
1. On-demand IT expertise
No matter how skilled an in-house technician may be, there’s no way they can master every aspect of IT. Someone who specialises in project management, for instance, may be less proficient in network security or general system administration. Assigning in-house technicians with extra responsibilities that are out of their of expertise can hurt your business.
Rather than spreading your technicians thin, co-managed services supplement and fill the skill gaps in your internal IT department. Empower IT, gives you access to a team of highly trained support engineers who are well-versed in different IT disciplines. This includes, but is not limited to, IT auditing, cloud computing, data backup, cybersecurity, and service desk support.
We serve as an extension of your IT department, so your technicians never have to worry about managing unfamiliar systems. Instead, they can focus on the work they care about and add value to your business.
2. Comprehensive maintenance
Our co-managed IT services keep your systems healthy through various methods if your organisation relies on a smooth-running IT infrastructure. Our team proactively monitors servers and hardware for bugs that may lead to system failures down the line. They’ll then promptly apply the fixes and the latest patches, resulting in fewer interruptions and a more efficient system.
Empower IT also offers asset management, consolidating all network, server, computer, and software information into a central console. Our technicians or one of yours can keep track of software licenses, network performance, hardware refresh life cycles, and more. This simplifies system administration tasks and notifies you when certain parts of your infrastructure need to be serviced by an MSP.
Moreover, our technicians routinely back up your data on-site and to a secure cloud server. Plus, we monitor the entire process in real-time to ensure all your backups are consistent and up to date.
3. Holistic cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is not something your business can afford to put on the back burner until your IT team has the bandwidth. Threats like phishing scams and malware spread alarmingly, and hackers always seem to uncover new vulnerabilities every month. In fact, the likelihood of a security incident increases as you incorporate more internet-powered technologies and enable permanent remote work arrangements.
Contracting an MSP to co-manage your cybersecurity is a good idea because they have access to enterprise-grade protections and expertise. Empower IT works with your team to implement a multilayered cybersecurity strategy to mitigate data breach risk.
For starters, we use Active Directory to help you manage access permissions, set mandatory password policies, and distribute patches to devices connected to the network. Then, we install next-generation firewalls on your networks to filter dangerous inbound and outbound internet traffic. We also monitor your networks and Office 365 accounts for malicious activities like unusually large downloads and failed login attempts and address these issues immediately.
Empower IT offers endpoint management tools like Microsoft Intune if you have remote workers. These tools give you a centralised platform to track company-registered devices, review their security configurations, and deny access to potentially compromised ones.
What’s more, we provide monthly security training to your staff through online tutorials, email reminders, and simulated phishing attacks. By the end of each session, employees will better understand good password hygiene, data-sharing etiquette, and how to avoid the most recent threats. All this greatly reduces the risk of a security breach caused by human error.
Round-the-clock support
When you partner with us, you can be assured that there’s always someone to answer your call and resolve any issue. Empower IT has a team of technicians that look after your IT around the clock and fill in for absentees. That means your technicians don’t have to burn themselves out by taking extra shifts and can take days off without worrying about being behind in work.
If a problem does occur outside of business hours, you can take full advantage of our 24/7 service desk. We’ll even give you a co-managed automation platform with a dedicated customer portal so you can send support tickets directly to our team.
With Empower IT’s co-managed IT services, a small IT department won’t hinder your organisation anymore. You get a professional partner that augments your existing staff’s capabilities while providing the tools and support system to drive your business forward. Call Empower IT today to see whether our co-managed IT service offerings meet your needs.
