Published 2023-07-26 by TechNet New England
We talk to business owners every week who tell us they handle IT themselves or have "a guy" who helps out when things break. We understand the logic: why pay for something you might not need? But the stories we hear about what happens before businesses call us paint a different picture.
The Ransomware That Could Have Been Prevented
A 15-person accounting firm had not updated their server in over a year. An employee clicked a link in a phishing email, and ransomware encrypted everything: client files, financial records, tax documents. Their backup drive was connected to the network and was encrypted too.
Recovery took three weeks. They ended up paying for emergency data recovery services, new equipment, and lost substantial revenue during the downtime. The total cost exceeded $80,000.
Proactive IT management (regular patching, proper backups, email filtering, and security training) would have prevented the incident entirely, at a fraction of that cost.
The Server That Died on a Friday
A small manufacturing company ran their entire operation on a single server: ERP system, file shares, email. The server was eight years old with no backup plan. It failed on a Friday afternoon.
They spent the weekend trying to find someone who could help. Data recovery was partial. Rebuilding took another week. Total cost: over $30,000 plus a week of lost production.
A server monitoring system would have detected the failing drive weeks before it died, allowing for a planned replacement with zero data loss.
The Pattern
These stories share common themes:
- The business owner thought they were saving money
- No one was monitoring for problems before they became emergencies
- When the emergency hit, recovery was exponentially more expensive than prevention
- Business operations were significantly disrupted
The Real Question
The question is not "can you afford IT support?" The question is "can you afford what happens without it?" Every business we work with wishes they had called us sooner. Let us show you what proactive IT support looks like.