5 most glaring gaps in SMB IT -
Every small business is different, but all IT vendors see common problems to the customer after customer. A client can be big on safety, but terrible for backup. Another can perform backups continuously, but execute 10-year-old computers that transform the productivity of workers in a dream.
dealers from around the country provide horror stories and what they did to convince customers to patch the glaring holes in their IT infrastructure. But sometimes customers refuse the best advice, then crash and burn. Use the bad examples as teaching tools in your next meeting of the client or prospect.
1. Backup and Disaster Recovery
"Only once in 12 years, and was most recently I met a client with a good backup," says Amy Babinchak, Own Port Computer services, a managed service provider (MSP) in the suburbs of Detroit. "the backup is the first thing we look at, and secure with new clients." This could mean the update drivers for a system all the way to the demolition of an old tape backup to a new disk to disk system, and training employees to use it properly.
Perhaps lulled to apathy by systems reliable, customers remain surprisingly resistant to backup tips. "We had [a] $ 10 million company as a customer last year we chased to save $ 150 per month contract," said Joshua Liberman, President of Net Sciences Inc., a systems integrator in Albuquerque, New Mexico "a few months later, their server crashed and they had not made a backup since leaving. They are out of business now "Think of system maintenance like changing the oil in your car: .. If you do not, your system will fail sooner or later and leave you failed
Mike Byrne, director of MSP in iT management software provider Quest software Inc., headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., remembers when he was working in the channel and talking to a law firm. "There was no quick restore functionality," he said. "How they loved to brag about how much each lawyer charged per hour, I asked them to calculate how much they would lose in an hour if I unplugged the server. Then I asked them to calculate how much it would be if I stole the server. "
2. safety
Constant articles, even in the mainstream press about security breaches have helped customers in tune with the need for security. But knowing they have it does not mean they understand. Remind them that they are just as cautious in the bad parts of town. Then explain that the entire Internet is a bad part of town full of hackers, spammers and cybercriminals.
"Customers generally do not get security," said Jamison West, CEO of Arterian, an MSP based in Seattle. "Often they do not know the difference between a Linksys $ 40 and a visor -Fire Cisco $ 4,000.. more and more companies rely on hosted cloud applications, lack of access to the Internet is both a problem of safety and productivity "
a management company network who asked not to be named reported that he had his own security bulletin: their personal folders CEO were on a shared drive. The rights to the data should be applied, not accidental.
"Users have too much access to their own computers, making it an easy way for viruses, and enabling critical data to be copied to USB drives and stolen," said Nick Cavalancia, vice president, Windows management, ScriptLogic Corp., a network company and customer management software in Boca Raton, Fla. "a product able to lock USB drives and raise the authority of the user as needed to administer their applications without giving them full control if many will plug security holes. "
3. Old Equipment
"We push the customer to make sure they never have to wait on the technology," says Karl Palachuk founder KPEnterprises Business Consulting Inc., a MSP in Sacramento, Calif. "Firewalls that still work, but can 't manage shaping traffic for VoIP, or are too old to follow the highest Internet speed, should be replaced. "
Palachuk appeal suggests the need for the boss better performance." Explain to management that upgrading their firewall will provide better service for them, and they will. Everyone will also benefit. "
Not always, said Net Sciences Liberman." A client led a high-end CAD program over 10 years of material, and would not upgrade. We put in a workstation CAD $ 2000 we built, and a job that normally ran for 48 hours completed in 10 minutes. "The good news? The customer purchased the machine. The bad news? The owner has not replaced the four other systems, such as old also running CAD software.
4. mobile Devices
for more security headaches, look in the pockets of your customers. "There is a year, maybe a person in a small business had a smartphone," said Babinchak. "Today, most small businesses each purchased a smartphone. This means that many new security problems do not receive a lot of thinking. "
Ask your customers to update their" acceptable use policy "for employees smartphones get, and you'll find they do not have a policy. But they need to remember which holds data even if the employee owns the phone or laptop. "We suggest employees sign a document that says at the end of employment, or for any other reason, the company can wipe their own device for protect their intellectual property, "said Babinchak. This may sound harsh, but do your customers really want their employees with their client list or other critical files to their next job?
5. strategic IT Thought
"We see many small businesses looking to IT as an expense rather than a commercial asset," said West. "We offer a vision of how technology will drive growth and profitability. If they conduct their business vision first and choose their technology later he does not. "
" Many customers do not treat them holistically network, "said Liberman. "They buy a new PC only when an elder dies. They do not look how the new software will impact their network."
Help your clients look down the road. No matter how they get an agreement on the material, if they have to change direction and throw it in the next year, they lost time and money.
As Liberman noted, "The worst is when we put together a network without a single hour of unscheduled downtime in a year, and the customer says there is nothing to it."
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