In this age of high tech, almost every business relies to some extent on the use of Personal Computers. PCs are a general-purpose workhorse assigned to do a multitude of tasks in most businesses large and small. From invoicing, to accounting, to inventory management, to writing sales proposals, chances are the PC is at the heart of the task. More often than not, the Personal Computer is used to create the product that is sold to the customer. The trusty PC has made most aspects of running a business much easier and more efficient.

When PCs are running like they are supposed to be, life is good. Unfortunately, things happen and sooner or later, there are bound to be computer problems. In your business, what happens when you have a computer go down? Who do you call? How long does it take to get it working again? And, what is being done to prevent problems from happening? The answers to these questions can have a great impact on your customers and your bottom line.

Many SOHOs and small businesses rely on the owner, a friend or a relative to keep the computers going. If a computer is not working properly and the owner can not get it running, the friend or relative is called in to try to repair it. Valuable time is lost as this person is located. Maybe they will be able to get to the computer that day or maybe it will be tomorrow. Meanwhile, the machine is unusable.

This costs your business money. If you or your employee can not work, money is lost. Oftentimes, opportunities are lost.

Why do businesses get themselves into this kind of position? A lot of times, it is because the owner believes that money can be saved by using a friend or a relative to support the PCs. Maybe the friend or relative is paid and maybe not.

Sometimes a small businesses owner will contract with a local computer company to provide PC support. If a computer stops working, a phone call is made to the computer shop and someone comes over to look at the computer. The computer shop probably is not providing any kind of proactive support. Until there is a problem, your computers are basically being ignored.

Is this the best way to keep your PCs, your network, and your server running at top performance and available whenever it is needed to do whatever is asked? Maybe it is, but maybe there are better ways.

Step back a moment and think about how a large corporation keeps its computers running at peak performance. Large corporations typically have an IT department staffed by fulltime employees. They take care of software upgrades and patches, anti-virus maintenance and performance problems. If a computer is not functioning properly, the user contacts the Help Desk within the IT department, perhaps starts a trouble ticket, and someone from the IT department works on the machine. In most cases, all work is done remotely. The problem is fixed, the computer is back in service quickly and the employee is once again working and making money for the company. Some IT departments continuously monitor the performance of all computers. If performance degradation is noted, the IT department can work on the computer and restore the performance, sometimes even before the user realized a problem was developing.

Does your small business have IT support like this? Will your friend, relative or the computer shop you have contracted with provide this kind of service? Can a SOHO user hope to have anything close to this sort of IT support?

The small business owner and the SOHO user now have access to full time, Enterprise Class IT support on par with or better than most corporate IT departments provide. And, this support is available at an affordable cost. Some contracts include:

Proactive performance monitoring

Patch management

Software and script deployment

Support of major software packages

Anti-virus and anti-Spyware software, scan and removal

Preventative maintenance

24 hour a day/7 day a week live telephone support

Imagine knowing that your small business can have full time performance monitoring and ongoing software and anti-virus support for a very modest monthly cost. And, if there is a problem, help is just a phone call away, no matter the hour or the day. This is the type of IT support very large companies can provide their employees and now the smallest of businesses can enjoy the same level of support.

As a small business owner or SOHO operator, it is time you checked what is available to support your PCs. You probably will be surprised at the level of IT support you and your business can get for a small amount of money. You can get a real IT Help Desk for you business. Aren’t your customers, your employees and your business worth it? Start taking advantage of this new wave of IT support now available for the SOHO and small businesses.