Calgary companies are suffering from the economic downturn.

According to an article in Huffington Post Canada, so far in 2016, more than 4,000 businesses have closed.

It is predicted that more than 7,000 businesses will have shut down by the end of the year.

(That’s up from the 6,300 businesses that closed in 2015 and the 5,900 that closed in 2014).

Right now it’s tough to stay in business, let alone remain competitive, cost-effective, and growth-oriented.

One of the most difficult costs to control for businesses of any size is IT.

But often, the approach businesses take toward IT management is outdated and reactive.

Think about your IT strategy the way you would think about your own healthcare.

If you don’t go to your doctor for regular checkups, you aren’t spotting problems with your health as early as you could.

By the time you do detect something, it is more complicated, serious, and costly to treat than it would have been otherwise.

Preventative care is the key – for both your body and your IT infrastructure.

Don’t Wait for Disaster to Strike

While not every Calgary business that closed this year did so because of poor IT strategy, the numbers don’t lie: security breaches, cyber-attacks, and IT infrastructure failures have a measurable impact.

If these IT crises don’t shut your doors, they can certainly cost your organization both financially and in terms of lost business.

If you wait for disaster to strike before acting, the recovery will likely be much more costly (and the downtime far more devastating) than if you had been proactive.

You can save money and prevent costly breakdowns by employing a more proactive approach to managing your IT infrastructure.

The Doctor Is In

Managed IT services do for your IT systems what your physician does for your health.

They both provide a partner who knows you well enough to help you meet your goals while preventing disaster from occurring.

They both monitor your systems and immediately take action when things go wrong.

The right IT partner proactively manages your IT, preventing problems before they arise, and implements safeguards that minimize the extent of any problem that could occur, whether natural or manmade.

Embracing this approach is not only more cost-effective in the long run but is also more aligned with business goals and will help you survive the economic downturn.

Winter Is Coming

The approaching change of season can mean variations not only in the weather but in business as well.

Many businesses are faced with seasonal fluctuations in business because of the weather.

These volatile cycles can make planning difficult, and making costs predictable as possible can help you manage these changes in revenue more efficiently.

Managed Services helps make your IT costs predictable so that you can plan for seasonal fluctuations.

Making regular investments in IT infrastructure, thereby keeping servers, software licenses, and peripheral equipment up to date, can save your business a fortune in unforeseen emergency repairs and downtime.

It’s estimated that downtime costs businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

More than the financial cost of downtime, however, is the cost of customer perception.

If you cannot effectively provide service to your customers or sell your products – or worse, your lack of infrastructure integrity results in the loss of customer date – you could quickly find yourself without a business to run.

The ITeam provides essential IT support to Calgary businesses, with fully managed and customized services designed to meet the needs of virtually any business.

The ITeam will work with your Alberta business to customize a cost-effective solution and help you develop a comprehensive IT strategy that will help you survive economically stressful times. Contact us for a free consultation.