Be Careful with your COVID-19 Cuts
Almost all of our businesses are feeling the impact of COVID-19. Revenues and cash flows are down and some costs are rising. We are all looking for ways to cut expenses. Information technology and services can be a good place to find savings.
As you look to reduce costs, be careful about what services you cut. Cutting services seen as ancillary or support can save you money in the short term. Looking forward, cutting any of these services creates real risks that larger problems with bigger costs will impact your business.
Cloud Backup Services
It is tempting to drop your cloud backup service, particularly if you have rarely had to restore, the likelihood you will need to recover lost or damaged content is increasing. The increased use of home computers and “shadow IT” services, along with an increase in cyber attacks, leads to more accidental and intentional damage and loss. And with more work being done remotely, the reliance on your electronic files, and cloud-resident data in particular, is higher than ever.
Advanced Threat Protection
Almost all email services, including Microsoft 365 and G Suite, have sophisticated malware and virus protections built-in. They are not, however, your best defense against rapidly changing cyber attacks. Advanced threat protection provides the extra measure of protection against sophisticated attacks that take advantage of human nature and behaviors and new (zero-hour) attacks. By validating sources and links, and testing links and attachments in a safe sandbox, advanced threat protection can prevent the carnage of ransomware and identity theft. With a significant spike in phishing attacks, now is not the time to lower your guard.
Service and Support Agreements
It can easy to overlook the value of service and support agreements, particularly if you do not feel that you use them often enough. Don’t measure the value of these agreements by the cost per call or cost per hour. The value is the time, money, and aggravation saved by having resources on-call that can identify and solve problems, train and guide your users, make system changes, and manage your services. The value is not just in the 15 minutes help, it is having access to resources with the knowledge and experience to address the issue in 15 minutes instead of 15 hours.
By selecting your cuts carefully, you can save money while protecting your business.
See our companion post for more about Where to Look for IT Savings.
For help evaluating your IT environment for efficiency, please contact us to schedule a free Cloud Advisor session, or take a look at our Recovery Road Map Assessment.
