The Real Value of Managed Services

A lot of businesses don’t understand the benefit of managed services. Even in the New York metro area, outsourced IT consulting sounds like a luxury.

If your computers work when you need them, why shell out your hard-earned dollars on a third party? How could managed services possibly be worth the additional expense?

To answer that question, let’s take a look at one of the biggest business blunders in recent history.

Missed Opportunities

In its heyday, Blockbuster was a giant. At the height of its run, the mega-chain was worth more than $5 billion. There were other rental options, but no one could hold a candle to Blockbuster.

And then the market shifted. But not before Blockbuster made one of the most epic bad calls in business history.

Netflix came onto the scene. Mail order video rentals struck Blockbuster CEO John Antioco as a “very small niche business.” Even after Netflix extended their operations to streaming services, Antioco maintained his stance. The new technology wasn’t ready to compete with physical rentals.

During the same time period, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings repeatedly approached Antioco, offering to sell Netflix for $50 million. Antioco laughed at the proposal and asked Hastings to leave his office, only to be driven into bankruptcy less than a decade later by the very company he refused to acquire.

Today, Netflix is worth about $68 billion.

Always Evolving

Here’s where Blockbuster missed the boat. Antioco and the other Blockbuster leaders made the mistake of assuming technology wouldn’t change quickly enough to impact their industry in the immediate future. Boy, were they wrong.

Technology is anything but static. And that’s one of the primary reasons it makes sense to partner with a managed services provider. The solutions you rely on today will almost certainly change in the near future.

As new tools come online, do you want to find yourself in Blockbuster’s shoes, tied to an outdated technology? Or would you rather follow in Netflix’s footsteps, slipping past the competition because you had the insight to incorporate new solutions at just the right time?

One Without the Other

“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.”
– Bill Gates

Let’s be clear. Technology is a tool. Even if you work in the tech field, technology isn’t the heart and soul of your business. That core will always be the human element of your organization.

That said, business without technology is very nearly unthinkable in today’s business climate. And a managed services partnership gives you a way to harness the power of technology with confidence. To get an accurate picture of the overall value, you really have to step back and look at the big picture.

Managed services providers take care of all your IT monitoring and support. Regardless of the size of your business, that’s a powerful resource. Even a short period of downtime gets expensive quickly. The Aberdeen Group estimates that downtime can cost a small business as much as $8,600 per hour.

Can you really afford to be offline?

But there’s more. Managed services include a strategic plan for monitoring every aspect of your network. The goal isn’t just to keep things running, but to keep things in top performance mode. It’s the difference between slapping band-aids on IT problems and developing true solutions.

Certus provides proactive managed services support to businesses in the Tri-state Area. We call it Complete Care, and that’s exactly what it is. And we deliver it for a fixed, affordable monthly fee.

Complete Care

Complete Care is a full suite of managed services offerings. We pair our IT consulting expertise with a genuine desire to help you achieve your business goals. The result is an approach that takes into account both your business processes and the technology solutions that can get you where you want to go and give your organization a competitive edge.

After all, what’s the point of IT consulting if not to empower your people? Technology should propel you toward success. If it doesn’t, you could be missing critical opportunities – just like Blockbuster.

Our Complete Care package addresses every major component of your network:

● 24/7 Monitoring and Support
● Cybersecurity
● Cloud Backup
● Disaster Recovery
● Unlimited support for your desktops, smartphones, tablets, scanners and printers

Your entire infrastructure is covered for a fixed, affordable monthly fee. No “nickels and dimes.” And no surprises.

Some managed services providers offer plans that don’t include each of these important areas. Others charge additional fees for services like cloud backup or disaster recovery. But we believe each and every area on our Complete Care list is vital, and we want our clients to be fully equipped.

Not only that, but we also believe there’s real peace of mind in knowing your network is in good hands. Your entire network.

Partial coverage is not enough. You want Complete Care.

Certus Technologies Delivers

Located in northern New Jersey, Certus Technologies is a different kind of managed services provider. We take IT support seriously while keeping a down-to-earth attitude.

We won’t throw jargon at you or talk IT circles around you. Instead, we’ll take the time to get to know you and your business. We’re real people with a real passion for technology.

If you’d like to learn more about our managed services and you’re in the Tri-state Area, we invite you to contact us. We’ll be happy to perform a free network and security assessment and share with you what we find. Let Certus Technologies show you how managed services can keep you at the top of your game for years to come.

We’ll close with a final piece of trivia. The last movie to be rented at Blockbuster? This Is the End.

About The Author

Evan Berk is Managing Partner at Certus Technologies, an IT Managed and Cloud Services firm that specializes in helping clients dramatically improve their business productivity.

Evan is passionate about simplifying and demystifying complex Information Technology systems and believes that the best IT systems should make our lives easier and more productive, both in the workplace and at home. He can be contacted at EBerk@CertusTechnologies.com or at 973-944-5000.