What will happen to your business should its server crash, the network printer won`t print, or the PC workstations keep bombing?
Like thousands of other so-called SMEs (small and medium enterprises), you`ll call in a support company or the reseller who originally sold you the system and installed it. And you`ll breathe a sigh of relief because you remembered to back-up your server the day before the crash.
But what happens if the reseller is no longer in business? Or if the `regular` technician at your support company, who knows your system inside out, has resigned or is ill? Does anyone other than the now missing techie know exactly how your network, server and workstations were configured or even what your server password is?
Has your system ever been documented, has the documentation ever been updated - and who has that information now?
And, when last did you check that your back-up system was indeed backing up? Failure of back-up systems usually only comes to light when the back-up is needed to, for example, restore data after a server crash.
Dennis Duff, regional technical manager at value added IT reseller, services and solutions company, First Technology says confusion about the details of a company IT system and responsibility for maintaining back-ups is an all too common scenario within organisations which don`t have their own in-house IT department.
"Most companies believe it`s the responsibility of the reseller or the support company they use when things go wrong to maintain the documentation relating to their system. But the onus really rests with the company itself - unless they pay the support company to undertake this task.
"The same applies to back-ups. Having a back-up system installed is no guarantee that it will continue to work effectively months or years later," he says.
The solution, Duff recommends, is to pay a support company a monthly retainer to maintain the system.
The cost of the maintenance contract can be adjusted to suit the company`s budget. It could amount to no more than paying for a routine monthly `health` check which takes an hour or two a month. This routine check should include examination of the back-up system.
"Importantly, the contract should also incorporate maintaining documentation relating to the system to reflect additions or removal of equipment and software as well as changes to the system configuration.
"A copy of this documentation should be held by both the support company and the business. Armed with this information, any qualified technician - even one who has never worked on the system before - will be able to effect repairs quickly and efficiently. The retainer is a small price to pay compared to the damage unnecessarily lengthy repairs or irrecoverable data can have on a small company`s operations. Think of it as the business`s health insurance," Duff concludes.
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