5 Solid IT Practices You Need to be Doing

Managed IT services are designed to be an affordable solution to keep an organization's IT infrastructure running smoothly and minimize expensive downtime. To help you better understand how managed IT services can save your business money, let's look at five modern IT methods that our IT services are founded upon.

Performing Regular Maintenance
Your computer network is made up of both hardware and software that requires regular maintenance. With hardware, attention needs to be given to make sure that every hard drive in every workstation and server is in good working order. On the software side of your network, regular tasks need to be performed like defragging and scanning for viruses. Staying on top of maintenance will prolong your technology's usability and increase your computer's performance.

Taking Care of Security Patches and Software Updates
All of these network security threats on the Internet demands that you be serious about staying on top of your software updates. This means making sure that you're running the latest version of every program and downloading and installing new security patches. Software updates are designed to close the door on the latest security threats; therefore, staying current with your systems updates and patches is one of the best things you can do to protect your data.

Documenting and Mapping Out Your Network
The most efficient way to operate your network is having an expansion plan and keeping a detailed network map. Mapping out your entire system and updating the map with every addition may seem like a big project, but when it comes time to make a repair or implement a new solution, your detailed network map will make for a quick repair and allow you find a solution that meets your exact technology needs.

Reporting and Tracking Troublesome Network Devices
You need to have a system in place that allows you to track the performance of your network and devices and also allows those users to have an interface to report problems. With accurate tracking and reporting, you can segregate troublesome devices and replace them to increase network performance by taking care of the weak links.

Staying Current with Your Software's Licensing
One thing you need to consider when it comes time to expand your business is how adding more users will affect your software's licensing agreement. The applications your business depends on may only be licensed for a certain number of users or workstations. It's easy to overlook the licensing requirements when it comes time to expand because you are in a pinch to get a project done quickly. Forgetting to check your software's licensing and expanding beyond your agreement can land you in some hot water. You will also want to keep track of when your software licenses expire.

All of these practices are necessary to keep your company's network running great. It may seem a little overwhelming to add all of this to your routine, but the great thing about managed IT services from Preferred is that we take care of all of this for you! Many of these services like software maintenance, scanning for viruses, adding security patches, and tracking your network's performance and software licensing agreements, we do remotely so you don't have to oversee any of it.

Everybody enjoys having one more thing taken off their list, with managed IT services, all of your IT responsibilities can be removed from your list by having Preferred take care of everything! Call us at 708-781-7110 to learn more.