I’ve found that companies that have the least trouble with servers, backups, viruses and technology in general are the companies that meet with their I.T. person frequently.
It’s like getting oil changes and going to your dental appointments when you are supposed to; if you want your technology to work for you, you need to meet with your I.T. person once a month. Maybe more.
At these meetings, you can get updates on your company’s security and other open issues. The more often you meet, the better your I.T. infrastructure will be maintained.
I’ve had a couple “clients” (who weren’t clients for long) that wanted our relationship to be strictly call-as-needed. Of course, they would only call when there was a big problem, and in many cases it was too late to do anything about it, or it was a very expensive problem to solve. It was clear that they didn’t really care about their infrastructure, and that made it hard for me to help them.
If you are involved in your company’s well-being and you want to keep things running well, you’re in a good position to have I.T. well maintained. We call this “taking an active role in the care of your system.” On the other hand, if you want to ignore the network and servers until there is a problem, then you will get a system that slowly degrades until there is an emergency.
Ask yourself if you want your business to succeed in the long run. If you do, make I.T. an integral part of your clinic’s future plans. Don’t leave it to chance.