Automation and saving money go hand-in-hand, and these days, anyway that you can trim expenses or increase productivity without sacrificing quality can go a long way to better returns.
Technology offers a lot of ways to reduce the time and labor it takes to reach an end result. Let’s break down a few ways that organizations here in Detroit can utilize their IT to save money.
General IT Maintenance and Management Automation
Okay, this one might be a bit of a shameless plug, because it’s what we do best. Hear me out though, because it can be a game-changer for a business to stop managing their technology the hard way.
Let’s say your business has about thirty computers and three servers. On each workstation, you’ll have antivirus software, Windows updates, and other utilities to keep updated. Sometimes these updates can be set to be done automatically, but that can disrupt the user or cause issues when an update doesn’t play nice with everything else. Even an unexpected reboot can interrupt a user for a few minutes and it can take even longer for them to get back on track.
The servers are often even more work—uptime is critical and access is limited (you don’t want just anyone getting full access to the entire organizations’ data). Maintenance for your servers needs to be done after hours, and the work is even more complicated and less user-friendly.
Not only that, but whoever you have assigned to handle your IT probably has other responsibilities too—whether it be providing support for your users or some other hat entirely.
We’ve seen this scenario time and time again, and there are usually only two outcomes; it’s not being done correctly, or it’s not being done at all. On top of that, it’s costing your business in time or putting your organization at risk.
Here’s how we automate IT maintenance:
We’ve invested in expensive, complex software that is normally meant for massive enterprises. This software is designed to manage and maintain thousands and thousands of devices across multiple locations, while still being extremely secure to meet the most strict security regulations on Earth. We’ve trained our staff to use it and understand it inside and out.
We use this suite of tools to manage and maintain all of the devices across our clients’ networks. Our techs know the moment a system goes offline. We can see when updates need to be applied, and we can schedule to apply them after hours or when the user is away. We’ve built proprietary scripts and processes so updates are tested and only deployed when deemed safe. We can gain insight into error logs so we know when a hard drive is about to fail, or when there is an obvious security issue. We can manage and maintain complicated devices like your servers and other network devices as if we were standing in front of them.
It also makes remote support a breeze—if an employee is having trouble accomplishing a task, we can easily remote in while on the phone with them and walk them through a problem, or fix it on the fly. Speed and efficiency are key.
For our clients, the experience is basically this; your IT is no longer an issue. Updates are handled, maintenance is handled, and problems are often found and addressed before they get in the way.
Software and Application Automation
Essentially, the whole point of business software is to streamline the amount of work you need to do to get to the end result. For example, Quickbooks is a whole lot more efficient than keeping everything in a binder.
Often, a business will invest in multiple types of software that perform different functions. You might have scheduling software or project management software to keep production organized, and a CRM (customer relationship management) application to keep sales and marketing on track. That’s still two separate systems. The data needs to be swapped and synced between the two. A new point of contact being added means updating both systems, and this gets even more complicated as you add more applications to your stack.
Plus, when something gets missed, it looks very unprofessional.
What if all of your different line-of-business applications could “talk” to each other? Or, what if instead of trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, you have software that is built exactly the way your organization needs it?
Custom application development can lead to massive amounts of automation. Syncing two separate applications together so data is shared between the two, or establishing custom software to handle your organizations’ specific processes can mean nothing falls through the cracks.
Sometimes, it’s as simple as turning a complex Access or Excel document into an easy-to-use web application so your sales team can provide quotes faster, or keeping track of complex maintenance schedules. There really is no limit to what software automation can do, and the cost of entry isn’t usually as high as most think.
Let Fuse Technology Group help streamline your business and make your technology do the heavy lifting. Give us a call at 248-545-0800 to talk to us about processes we can automate for you.
