Often, it can be a simple lack of routine maintenance and cyber hygiene that causes some of the most devastating breaches, rather than some large, sophisticated attack.

According to the Sophos 2021 Threat Report, the most damaging attacks identified last year were due to a basic lack of cybersecurity hygiene and upkeep of systems.

Keeping your network properly optimized and secured with routine maintenance is vital to ensuring your company doesn’t suffer from downtime, data breaches, malware or ransomware infections, lost productivity, and other problems.

Your technology infrastructure includes many moving parts and if just one is left unchecked it can cause an entire network to go down. One of the recent ransomware attacks that had a nationwide impact was the Colonial Pipeline attack that caused a shutdown of a vital pipeline for nearly a week.

Gas shortages across the East Coast ensued and the price for a gallon of gas rose to over $3.00 across the country. This big attack was caused by a lack of basic maintenance on an unused VPN account that was left unprotected.

What Happens During Routine IT Maintenance? 

Network maintenance and ongoing managed IT services cover all corners of your technology infrastructure to ensure it continues supporting your company’s productivity and growth.

Here are a few of the vital services that are taken care of on an ongoing basis.

Network Connections & Equipment Maintenance

A slow internet connection slows down everyone in the office and can be a big drain on productivity. From your routers to VPN networks, GEEK911’s maintenance includes optimizing your router and network configuration, ensuring proper bandwidth prioritization, and troubleshooting any potential connectivity problems.

With all the equipment that keeps your internet working properly maintained, you can ensure you’re getting the internet speeds you need to keep work optimized.

Ensure Network & Server Uptime

IT downtime can cost anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 per hour for a small or mid-sized business. That’s a big cost for every minute your server or network is down, and your business is essentially “offline.”

With well-maintained systems, downtime is mitigated, and you don’t suffer from any unexpected outages due to poorly maintained equipment.

GEEK911 offers a 99.9% SLA, ensuring your equipment stays up and running.

Replace Equipment Before It Fails

If equipment isn’t properly maintained, it doesn’t last as long and can break down unexpectedly. As part of routine IT maintenance, we will evaluate all hardware and ensure you’re getting the longest usable life possible.

We will also know well in advance when a component is reaching the end of its usable life and can get it replaced well before it’s in danger of failing and causing you problems and outages.

Ongoing Security Updates & Monitoring

IT security becomes more critical every year as attacks increase in volume and sophistication. When your network is properly maintained, it’s also more secure and receives ongoing monitoring for any threats.

When new threats are detected that need to be addressed, your network can be updated to detect them before they have a chance to impact your business’s health and wellbeing.

Your Data is Kept Protected

Data loss from hardware or software crashes can set a company back significantly. Data backup for business continuity is another area of network maintenance that ensures your company is protected.

Data isn’t only set on a backup and left. Backups are monitored and validated to ensure they don’t run into any problems and that your data will be completely restorable should you need it.

Ongoing Cost Savings & Optimization

It’s easy for IT budgets to balloon when your infrastructure isn’t well maintained. You end up paying for emergency repairs, have costly downtime, and can be struggling with inefficient systems.

Through routine maintenance, we can identify any potential problems before they result in a costly crash or outage. We are also in a position to recommend optimizations that can save you money while maximizing your network efficiency.

Patch & Update Management

Several systems need to be kept updated throughout a network. Just one of them being left without a vital security patch applied can mean a malware infection or data breach that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Some of the vital components that need to be updated regularly include:

• Computer & server operating system
• Computer & server software
• Computer & server firmware
• Router and other hardware firmware
• Mobile device OS and apps
• IoT device OS and firmware

Without the ongoing patch and update management that comes with routine maintenance, it’s easy for one of those many components to be missed and your network to be unprotected. 

Protect Your IT Infrastructure with a Plan from GEEK911 

GEEK911 can help your Silicon Valley area business put an affordable network maintenance plan in place to keep your IT infrastructure secure and optimized.

Schedule a consultation by calling 1-866-433-5411 or reach us online.