The Downside to Remote IT Support

Does this sound familiar? You have a presentation to make in front of board members tomorrow, but something is wrong with your company’s servers. You contact the remote IT support team you hired because they seemed like a good idea at the time, only to find out they won’t be able to help you until sometime tomorrow afternoon – after your presentation.

This is a relatively common scenario in today’s digital world. Companies looking to save money find what they think is a good deal by hiring a remote IT support team from a different state – or even a different country on the other side of the world. While it’s true the company might save a little up front by hiring a remote IT support team, it will wind up costing them much, much more in the end.

Here are four reasons why hiring a remote IT support team isn’t the best option for your company.

1. A Remote IT Support Team Can’t Physically Work in Your Office

Because it is a remote IT support team, they’re going to be working virtually, meaning they’ll connect with your computers and your servers, etc., remotely. With technology being what it is, that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Let’s think about it this way – you hire a remote mechanic to work on your car. You can hook your car up to the computer and the mechanic can tell you what’s wrong with it. What if something needs to be replaced? A part is bad or the oil needs to be changed. The mechanic isn’t there to do, but he can walk you through the steps. Do you feel comfortable doing that?

It’s the same with your network. Remote IT support can log into your network and see what’s going on and, possibly, fix an issue. However, if something has broken or needs physical repairs, they’re not there to do it.

2. Remote IT Support is Filled with People You Don’t Know

Most remote IT support companies hire a lot of people. Not surprisingly, a lot of those people work from their own homes. Since everything is virtual, it saves their company money by not having to worry about office space or their own infrastructure. They hire people who know some things about computers and networks.

Have these people had background checks? If you have sensitive information on your servers, that’s something you’ll probably want to know. Do they know what they’re doing or are they making things worse? Sadly, you don’t really know, and that’s the problem. Over the course of however long it takes for them to fix your problem, you might end up speaking with a lot of different people, all of whom will need access to your network.

If you don’t know the person, if you haven’t met them face to face, can you ever truly feel comfortable knowing they have access to everything on your server?

3. They’re Not Familiar with Your Company’s Needs

When you first set up your contract with the remote IT support team, chances are they asked you about what your company does. They might ask one or two more questions, and that’ll be about it. What your company needs should be at the forefront, and any IT support group worth their weight knows it.

It’s simple – a remote IT support firm cares about fixing your problem as quickly as possible so they can go about making more money from someone else. They haven’t spent time working with you, so they don’t know any special needs your company might need – such as cloud storage, HIPAA compliance measures, and more.

Something else to think about when it comes to HIPAA – is your remote IT support team capable of handling all of the safeguards and protections that go into HIPAA compliance? If the remote team is working from a different country, they probably don’t know all of the regulations required in providing Compliance as a Service, or CaaS. If you’ve ever been fined for violating HIPAA compliance, you know those penalties are pretty expensive.

4. There Might be a Communication/Language Barrier

When dealing with remote IT support from other countries, it’s fair to say language and communications could become a problem.

Most of the people you speak with over the phone or by email will know English, but that doesn’t guarantee they understand your specific problem. On the flip side of the coin, they might try to communicate something to you, which you might not completely understand. If you were to guess at an answer based on what they are asking, and it turns out to be the wrong answer, the blame could fall back on you if something breaks or shuts down.

This is not to say situations like these happen all the time, but they could possibly happen. If they do, are you still comfortable with the less-expensive remote IT support plan? There is a better way.

Swift Systems – Your Hometown Solution

For more than 19 years, Swift Systems has been on a mission to change the face of IT by being a true, trusted partner for growing businesses.

We do this by providing a blend of on-site and remote managed IT services that put all of your IT needs under one umbrella. Viruses, downtime, and hardware issues can debilitate a business. Having a full team of Tier-II and above IT professionals at the ready gives our clients access to the highest level of services and support available in Maryland.

We’re there for us when you need us. We make it a point to know our clients and their needs. If you’re ready to breathe a little easier and dump your current remote IT support team, contact us today to find out how we can help you.

Let our Specialists take care of your IT Support