Business

Business IT Systems: Why The Break/Fix Approach Doesn’t Work

Many businesses and organizations tend to follow the break/fix approach to the things they use. In other words, if something breaks, they fix it. That might sound like a normal thing to do, but it’s an approach that seldom works well in the long run. Have you ever heard the saying “prevention is better than the cure”? Well, that saying applies to this very scenario!
Surprisingly, more companies than you imagine will employ the break/fix logic to their business IT systems. Let me share with you some reasons why that approach just doesn’t make any sense:

When things break, they can cause a lot of downtime

 

You might think there’s no real harm done if a user’s PC stops working in the office. But, what happens if your in-house file server ceases to function? Or your network router decided to reset itself and lose all of its configuration settings?

 

As you can appreciate, the two latter scenarios above can cause a lot of downtime and delay for your business. Your staff can’t complete their tasks in a timely fashion, and your customers will ultimately get affected by the downtime too.

 

Having a proper maintenance schedule and monitoring system in place means your business can get problems fixed before they cause you major headaches!

Preventative maintenance doesn’t have to cost a fortune

 

Some business leaders shudder at the thought of paying vast sums to IT support firms. Even the prospect of hiring a team of experts in-house could mean a lack of cash flow in their minds. In reality, preventative maintenance of your IT systems need not cost the Earth.

 

Did you know that outsourced IT for businesses saves companies significant sums compared to in-house teams or even no IT support at all? Taking into the account the cost of regular repairs and checks, the fees you pay will still be cheaper than the alternative of replacing stuff when they go “bang”!

 

Parts for obsolete IT equipment will become scarce

 

Is your office rocking a bunch of old computers that were “state of the art” back in 2007? If so, you’ll find that it’s hard to get replacement parts for them. It is especially the case if you’ve got branded systems from the likes of Dell who use proprietary parts!

 

Let’s say for argument’s sake that you do manage to source a supplier of parts for your outdated IT systems. What you may have failed to take into account is that those rare items will command a high price premium. In fact, it’s not unusual for such parts to cost more than they did when they were widely available on the market.

 

Final thoughts

 

Instead of sticking with the break/fix approach, it makes sense to have a clearly defined upgrade path for your IT kit. That way, you will minimize downtime and ensure your workers are as productive as possible. In other words, no waiting around for applications to load or “clicking” hard drives to start functioning again!

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