Proactive IT Looks Ahead While Reactive IT Looks Back
Many businesses fall into the trap of “break-fix” reactive IT support because they see lower costs, but proactive IT support spend is so much more then a simple ROI exercise when you factor in all the ways that tech affects your business.
Let’s explore the obvious and not so obvious reasons you should step away from reactive IT support shall we…
Hourly IT Support Creates A Cascading Effect Of Wasted Employee Man Hours
Slow systems, old tools, errors and poor IT advice creates operating inefficiencies that easily waste hundreds if not thousands of employee man hours.
Sure, you “save” a couple grand on IT support but this reactive IT support leads to piled up IT issues, crusty old computers, outdated hardware, malaise, poor workflows and a business environment that most people will not enjoy working in.
Reactive IT Support Throttles Your Employees: Having an MSP proactively monitor your business ensures that the outdated gets cycled out, IT issues don’t pile up, maintenance gets performed, and the overall production of an employee is improved
You Change Your Oil Because It Saves You In The Long Run
IT equipment is like any other machine, it requires ongoing care to remain functional; lack of maintenance accumulates, leading to lag, frustration, crashes and eventually an expensive bourbon habit.
Proactive IT Gets More Out Of Your IT Investment: With proactive IT maintenance obvious IT issues get addressed, extending the lifespan of your hardware and software investments.
Cybersecurity Is Everyone’s Problem In 2025
When a hack happens, it affects everyone.
The costs of recovering from a data breach can be astronomical when you factor in downtime, loss of work, damage to your brand, pissed off clients/employees and potential legal issues.
We know that your email is vulnerable, we know that ransomware spreads like wildfire and we know that most employees aren’t trained IT experts who easily spot scams (and don’t get me started on what Ai voice can do).
Proactive IT Now Includes Hacker Protection: MSPs like LME Services now include Cybersecurity in their IT support because your IT is doing you a disservice if they know how a hack is going to happen and do nothing to prevent it.
Sorry, But Even SMBs Need Compliance Now
Most businesses like to think they don’t need any form of compliance… and while that would be nice, it’s VERY inaccurate.
Besides standard compliances that all business must meet like PCI (for credit cards) and the updated FTC safeguards (for employee and client data), you also have to meet your Cyber Insurance policies (which you better have) and must also accurately fill out vendor questionnaires.
Proactive IT keeps you up-to-date and aligned with regulatory guidelines, reducing the risk of non-compliance, and making sure you all set LEGALLY.
Proactive IT Maintenance Helps You Avoid Nightmare Scenarios: You need to stay informed about compliance because burying your head in the sand will not help when you get the calls start.
Your Employees Are People After All
Do you enjoy using a slow computer?
Do you like old software, crappy printers, outdated email, and constant reboots?
Your employees are people and ALL people get frustrated when they walk into work and know that they are going to have to deal with constant obstacles when working.
Proactive IT Shows Your Employees You Care: Spending money on your employees makes them happier and makes their life easier. Now how can you argue with that!?
You Need A Technical Plan For Business Growth
Business owners like their familiar old software (I know I do), liked when things worked over fax, and preferred the good ole days when talking about Hackers was a reference to a moderately watchable Angelina Jolie movie.
The problem is that times change and businesses grow and by taking a reactive approach to IT, your always behind the companies that have build technology into their future.
Having an MSP means you have a CTO (Chief Technical Officer) that will keep you up-to-date on tech, incorporate scalability into your software, and outline plans for handling businesses evolutions like the Cloud, Ai, and government compliance.
Proactive IT Focuses on the Future While Reactive IT focus on the Past: Your IT provider should be a vital part of your team, working with you to anticipate future IT needs while making scalable plans for your future success.
IT Evolved From Reactive Support To Proactive Support Because Its Better For You
Proactive IT support offers so many benefits that its easier to simply cut to the chase and say that proactive Managed IT Services (MSP Services) is better than reactive IT support in every way but its transparent cost.
As many businesses have learned, the real price of reactive IT is a disruption to every aspect of your business and if you simply focused on ROI you miss the point of proactive IT entirely.
Further Reading: How Managed IT Services Support Chicago’s Remote and Hybrid Workforces, The Role of Fully Managed IT Support in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery.
