The life of an IT admin can be tough. Once Phil’s lost data has been restored, Lucy calls threatening to smash the printer with a baseball bat. At the same time someone somewhere is downloading a malicious file, putting the whole IT security at risk without knowing. One thing is certain, though: Admins are underappreciated lifesavers who are facing a Sisyphean challenge when it comes to ensuring a stable IT environment for everyone else to work in – the backbone of the company so to say. Yet, they are usually approached angrily as if they are the root of all evil. They aren’t! Especially technology-affine people tend to be resentful when they’re not able to fix problems themselves. And I get it! I’m among those who feel hurt in their pride the moment they realize they need help… only recently I growled at an admin (Mike, in case you’re reading this: I’m really sorry!).
Seriously, call the admin!
Most employees (me included) won’t call an admin right away, so chances are some time has already passed since that one thing went wrong. Maybe they also tried to fix it themselves, which made it even worse. It’s a deadlock for productivity: Stuff’s broken; the admin is busy; the supportee is halted in his work, and maybe data has been lost too.
With ITbrain remote monitoring – by TeamViewer – you are able to drastically improve this processes and, at the same time, reduce your spend.
Proactive vs. Reactive Administration
You’d change a tire before it runs flat, wouldn’t you? Often there are indications that something is about to fail or break. Arguably most employees won’t be able to detect these indications. Consequently, the admin becomes active after harm has been done, provided he has been alerted by the user. Having a remote monitoring solution in place allows for prediction of events. E.g., disks that are about to fail usually start reporting S.M.A.R.T errors. With remote monitoring an indication like this can be picked up on easily, thus enabling admins to jump in and back up data avoiding unnecessary data loss. A system with peak memory and CPU usage is doomed to crash sooner than later. Usage that constantly exceeds healthy thresholds signifies admins that action is required. Remote monitoring streamlines IT administration insofar as it’s not required to wait till something fails. The role of admins becomes proactive and stops being reactive.
Time Efficiency
Critical errors can be prevented before they occur. Even though there’s still a minor bump in work-productivity, it’s far less compared to the time it takes to fix a crashed system. Back to the tire example from the previous paragraph: Think of the time it takes to regularly change a tire in the shop as opposed to waiting till it blows on the highway. Also, combining remote monitoring and remote control brings time efficiency to a whole new level: Some computer problems can be fixed by “clicking here and there”. Remotely detected with ITbrain, remotely fixed with TeamViewer – safes a lot of transit time between desks and comes in especially handy at decentralized IT infrastructures.
Saving Costs: More Money in Your Pocket
Saving of costs is always that one knockout argument when justifying new solutions. Well, in context of remote monitoring it really is appropriate. The automation and hence streamlining of processes increases the reaction time of admins and places their preventive actions before systems might eventually fail. By taking measures to reduce or eliminate threats and risks, one can prevent critical errors which can be costly in terms of time and money. Furthermore, enabling admins to manage their IT infrastructure remotely reduces transit time within the office, between different buildings, locations or even countries. That overall increase in IT management efficiency can be seen as the main driver in the reduction of costs: An increase of efficiency in administrative processes lowers the critical time required to fix and restore, simultaneously reducing the period of disruption, thus raising productivity in administered departments. If you knew your tire is about to run flat by monitoring the indications (low profile, worn…) you’d change it at the time that suits you best, so you wouldn’t miss an important appointment or mar you travel plans. Not to mention the money you saved by not needing road side assistance or – god forbid – the risk you would’ve possibly put you and your family at that comes with a blown tire at higher speeds.
Back the less horrifying introductorily mentioned office scenario: With remote monitoring, Phil’s data would have never been lost in the first place as the admin would’ve been able to take preventive measures like performing a backup and replacing the disk beforehand. Lucy’s printing problem could’ve been avoided by monitoring the processes necessary to realize a print job and remotely fixing it once they stopped working. Your car likely monitors different aspects of your car already to keep you save. Now, consider it also for your IT infrastructure.
ITbrain is integrated in TeamViewer. Test ITbrain remote monitoring for free and experience the benefits of having one combined solution for remote control and remote monitoring.
