Are Day-to-Day Break Fixes Consuming Your Internal IT Team's Resources?

Are day-to-day break fixes consuming your internal IT team’s resources? It’s a simple question, but the answer might not be as easy to come by. Internal IT departments are busy places. Typically, everyone is working very hard to ensure everything is operational. You see, the systems that make the workday possible for everyone in a company — email, telephones, applications and software — all depend on IT keeping things up and running. We like to call it “keeping the lights on.” 

What Is Break/Fix?

But break/fix is different from daily maintenance tasks. What is break/fix? Put simply, it’s a reactionary model for managing business technology. It’s a way of saying that identifying solutions become a priority once a problem is already occurring. In other words, once something breaks, then we will fix it. Hence, break/fix. 

The difficulty with break/fix is that it is reactionary. Break/fix support typically focuses on putting out timely fires and ensuring a company remains operational. No doubt this is important, but is it the best allocation of resources? 

Internal IT teams only have so much time in a day. I don’t know if your internal IT is one person, a group of three or an entire department of 20+ individuals, but either way, there is a finite amount of resources within each internal IT team. And how they spend that time depends on the resources they have access to. 

Break/Fix Support Impacts Internal IT

When internal IT teams have to spend their time on these lower priority projects, they’re not able to pour their energies into projects that actually move the needle. Sure, part of an IT team’s job is to keep everything in working order, but focusing on break fixes likely isn't a great use of company time or resources. 

How can you help your IT members be more productive and remain focused on the larger picture of security and growth? For starters, you can seek out a technology partner who can take on the burden of day-to-day IT needs. 

Break/Fix Vs. Managed Services

Partnering with a technology partner for Managed Services will provide technology support and maintenance to businesses currently burdened by the break/fix model. Typically, technology issues that arise time and time again can be solved once and for all. All it takes is following them back to the source, identifying the issue and resolving it. 

For example, do you have applications that keep crashing during peak times? Perhaps your wireless infrastructure doesn’t have the capacity you need. Without the proper wireless setup, your business will experience periods of lag and application crashes. These are issues today’s businesses simply cannot tolerate. 

Problems that plague IT departments get in the way of a company’s ability to grow. With a technology partner providing break/fix support and taking a proactive approach to supporting your business technology, your internal IT team can research and identify ways technology can move your company forward.