If you own or manage a business in the Asia Pacific region, it’s important to understand what resources are available for helping you assess your business needs, choose the right solution providers and ensure your IT systems are protected against a variety of threats. EIRE Systems is the leading provider of IT support services in Asia.
Whether you need temporary help setting up a new IT system or 24/7 support from a leading provider of IT solutions, it’s important to choose the right partner. We’ve put together this guide to help you understand the most important considerations in choosing a solutions provider to help you achieve your desired business outcomes.
Why Hire an IT Support Partner?
Even businesses with in-house IT teams can benefit from hiring an IT support partner to help with system maintenance, IT security, hardware configuration, software installation and other activities. Here are just some of the reasons you should consider hiring an IT support partner for your business.
Extensive Expertise
It’s difficult to find IT employees with all the skills you need to run your business effectively. If you find someone who’s great at troubleshooting server problems or installing new workstations, they may not be familiar with the software you use or understand how to protect your company against IT security threats. If you had to pay for a full-time employee to handle every aspect of IT, you’d have to increase your budget for compensation and benefits significantly. IT support partners offer a wide range of expertise, ensuring you can get help when you need it instead of having to hire a new employee every time you adopt new technologies.
Cost Containment
Regardless of the size of your business, cost containment is always an important consideration. When you hire a full-time employee, you need to pay their salary, offer benefits and pay additional overhead. For example, you may need to purchase a new workstation for the employee or buy additional licenses for some of the software programs you’re using. These costs add up quickly, making it difficult to stay within your budget. When you hire an outside IT support partner, you pay only for the services you use, making it easier to manage IT-related costs.
When you work with an IT support partner, your costs are also more predictable, especially if you sign up for managed services. If your managed services provider charges by the month, you’ll know exactly how much you need to pay each month to get the support you need. Some providers charge by the hour, but even then you can estimate how many hours of support you’ll use each month and anticipate how much you’ll pay for IT services.
Increased Flexibility
Even if you prioritize flexibility among your in-house staff, you may not have the amount of flexibility you need to adapt to changing business needs or respond quickly to critical IT issues. Working with an outside IT partner gives you increased flexibility by allowing you to deploy IT expertise whenever and wherever it’s needed. If you need a server configured one day and a security threat addressed the next, an IT support partner can handle both tasks, eliminating the need for you to hire new employees or move current employees around.
An IT support partner can also provide supplemental help for your in-house IT team, making it easier to handle critical system threats. For example, if one of your cloud solutions is compromised, you can ask your IT support partner to send a technician to work on the problem. This ensures the problem is resolved quickly without taking your in-house staff away from their regular job duties and causing bottlenecks throughout the company.
Better Security
It can be difficult to find experienced IT security professionals willing to accept in-house employment with your company. Many managers have only a passing familiarity with system security concepts, which prevents them from understanding how to hire the most skilled professionals. If you work with an IT support partner, your business can benefit from their extensive security expertise. For example, an outside partner can help you develop a robust IT security policy, deploy security patches, run security scans and perform other tasks that make your system less vulnerable to internal and external threats. If your in-house team had to take care of these tasks, they might not have enough time to do them, allowing serious threats to impact your business.
Increased Productivity
If your in-house IT team tries to handle every aspect of system installation, configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting, they’re likely to get bogged down with tickets and have difficulty carrying out important duties. While in-house technicians are dealing with critical issues, end users will be unable to get help with password resets, software problems and other IT issues, which could impair their ability to do their jobs. Eventually, productivity suffers, making it difficult for your business to stay profitable.
When you have an IT support partner, you don’t have to worry about these bottlenecks. Your support partner can troubleshoot hardware and software issues, install security patches, update your cloud solutions and perform other tasks while your in-house team handles user-submitted tickets and makes sure everything keeps running smoothly. An IT support partner doesn’t completely replace your in-house information technology employees, but it can take time-intensive tasks off their plates, making it easier for them to stay productive.
Types of IT Consulting Services
Business Continuity Planning
Business continuity planning involves determining how your company will continue operating in the event of an unexpected disruption in services. For example, if a natural disaster knocks out your power for several days, you need to have a plan in place for how you’ll continue developing products, providing professional services and communicating with your customers regarding their orders.
Good IT consulting services can help you come up with a continuity plan that keeps your business running even when things get tough. For example, an IT consulting firm can help you choose technology solutions that you can access even if you can’t work from your office. EIRE Systems has extensive experience recommending cloud solutions, which can be accessed via the internet instead of a local machine. If your on-site equipment is damaged, you can still access the applications you need to run your business.
We can also help you establish a disaster plan to follow in the event your work site is destroyed due to a fire, inclement weather or vandalism. In 2011, a major earthquake rocked Japan, triggering a tsunami with 40-foot waves and ultimately causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Although this is an extreme example of a disaster that can cause severe property damage, it’s something you need to be prepared for if you operate a business. Whether you’re in Singapore or Japan, EIRE Systems can help you develop a disaster plan that limits your losses in the event of an emergency.
Installation of Technology Solutions
Unless you have a large in-house support team, it can be difficult to install new hardware and software and make sure they work correctly. EIRE Systems provides a wide range of support to businesses throughout Asia. This includes site surveys, procurement services, network design, server installation and workstation installation. We can help you choose comprehensive solutions for your business, configure them properly and test them extensively before deploying them throughout your organization.
IT Security Services
As more and more businesses use IT systems to create, store, retrieve and analyze data, major data breaches have become more common. These breaches occur in businesses of all sizes, from small firms with just a few employees to large corporations that employ thousands of people. To reduce the risk of data breaches, you need to have clear IT security policies, conduct regular vulnerability testing and take steps to protect your systems against unauthorized access.
IT Security Policies
EIRE Systems can help you develop comprehensive IT security policies and update them as needed, protecting your business against threats. Drafting detailed policies starts with identifying the most significant risks to your business and determining the best way to combat those risks. Once you know what risks you need to address, you can invest in appropriate security controls.
Creating a robust information security policy requires a great deal of skill. As a leading provider of IT support in the Asia Pacific region, EIRE Systems has skilled experts ready to advise you. We can help you determine which members of your organization to include in the planning process, review your drafts and ensure the final policy consists of enforceable rules that can be followed by every employee. Our team can also notify you of updates to IT security best practices, ensuring that you have plenty of opportunities to update the policy in response to new threats.
Vulnerability Management
EIRE Systems also has extensive experience using emerging technologies to identify, analyze, manage and address vulnerabilities across IT systems. These vulnerabilities are the “security holes” that increase your risk of data breaches and other security issues. Using a variety of established and new technologies, our IT experts can also conduct penetration testing of your IT infrastructure, which involves using a database of exploits to simulate attacks and train your in-house employees to handle them appropriately.
System Security
Even if you have a robust IT security policy, you still need to take steps to protect every aspect of your system. EIRE Systems is a leading provider of security solutions to help you avoid malware, phishing attacks and other threats, including threats to your cloud infrastructure. The tools we use are capable of automating routine security tasks, freeing your employees to focus on generating more revenue and forming better relationships with customers. These tools can even monitor common software programs, such as Office 365, to stop attacks before they result in significant losses.
Information Technology Staffing
Finding the right solution providers is just the first step in building a robust IT system. You also need the right people to maintain the system and use its capabilities effectively. Business owners have many responsibilities, making it difficult to find time to recruit skilled IT experts; that’s where EIRE Systems comes in. We provide IT staffing and IT consulting services to businesses of all sizes, eliminating the need for you to spend your time writing job ads, conducting interviews and administering skills tests. EIRE Systems can provide on-site engineers for your company, giving you access to ongoing IT and programming expertise.
These are just a few of the positions we can fill:
- Server engineers
- Helpdesk technicians
- Network engineers
- System administrators
- Database administrators
Move Coordination
Moving to a new office is an exciting prospect for any business, especially if you’ve outgrown your current site. Although moving presents new opportunities for generating revenue and updating your business strategies, it’s also a difficult process when it comes to making sure all system components arrive safely and are installed correctly at the new site. EIRE Systems has on-site move coordinators and a network of off-site technicians available to manage your move, ensuring everything goes smoothly.
Managed Services
If you have a small IT team, you may not have the right expertise to solve every problem your business encounters. Managed services can help you fill these gaps in expertise, ensuring you always have someone available to fix a critical system issue or conduct routine maintenance on your system components. EIRE Systems is a global leader in providing managed services in the Asia Pacific region. You can count on our IT experts to keep your systems running smoothly and provide additional services as your business grows.
10 Considerations for Choosing an IT Support Provider in the Asia Pacific Region
1. Location
If you need help right away, you don’t want to wait hours or even days while someone travels hundreds of miles to your work site. It’s important to choose a solutions provider that has offices near your business. As the premier support provider in the Asia Pacific region, EIRE Systems has offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong, ensuring you have convenient access to IT expertise. If necessary, our IT experts can also access your system remotely, fixing issues with cloud-based applications and helping your employees troubleshoot common internet issues.
2. Adaptability
You also need an IT support partner that can adapt to your business needs as they change. If you choose a partner that only works with certain software or hardware, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to strengthen your IT infrastructure and focus on continuous improvement. EIRE Systems provides a wide range of support services and can adapt those services to meet your business needs, ensuring you have the right level of support for ongoing business operations.
3. On-Site vs Off-Site Support
Before you choose an IT support partner, think about whether you need on-site support, off-site support or a combination of the two. On-site support is ideal if you have a small IT team and need extra people to help with hardware configuration, software installation and other hands-on tasks. If you need limited support, such as help troubleshooting cloud solutions, you may be able to use off-site support instead. In some cases, you’ll need both types of support. Our experienced team has the know-how needed to provide both types of support to businesses of all sizes.
4. IT Experience
When it comes to IT support, strong expertise is one of the most important criteria. Your partners need to understand your specific business and have the ability to tailor their services to your needs. They also need hardware and software know-how, the ability to recommend and install cloud solutions, excellent communication skills and the ability to scale their services as your company grows. EIRE Systems has some of the most experienced IT professionals in the Asia Pacific region, ensuring you get the services you need to meet your unique needs.
5. Company Reputation
You also need to look for an IT partner with a reputation for building strong relationships and treating clients with respect and fairness. Expertise is important, but you need to work with a partner who’s willing to get to know how your business works and recommend technologies based on what’s best for your needs. Whether you need a complete digital transformation or just a little help installing new software, it’s important to work with someone you can trust. EIRE Systems has a long history of treating clients in the Asia Pacific region with respect and taking the time necessary to learn how their businesses operate.
6. Approach to Maintenance
If you need managed services, look for a company that takes a proactive approach to maintenance rather than a break-fix approach. Under the break-fix approach, the support partner only takes action when something breaks and needs to be repaired. With a proactive approach, the IT support partner provides ongoing system monitoring and maintenance, reducing the risk of major system failures. In many cases, a proactive approach can save your company money, as it allows you to identify minor issues before they turn into major problems that can disrupt your business operations.
7. Mix of Services
You need an IT support partner that offers exactly the mix of services you need. It doesn’t do you any good to choose a partner that only works with cloud solutions if you need help installing software or configuring servers. Conversely, choosing a support partner without much cloud expertise isn’t a good way to use your resources if you rely on cloud solutions for many critical business activities. Before choosing a partner, think about all the services you need. Use the list to assess each IT firm before making a final decision.
8. Availability of IT Tools
Your IT partner should be able to deliver solutions that save time and help you manage your IT costs as efficiently as possible. Whether you need basic IT support or a complete digital transformation, your new IT partner should have access to a variety of tools to protect your systems against potential threats, automate routine processes and reduce system downtime associated with maintenance activities.
9. Subject Matter Expertise
IT expertise is important, but so is specific subject matter expertise. If your business is in a highly specialized industry, you need an IT support partner that understands how your specialty affects your IT needs. For example, if you manage a scientific laboratory, your IT partner should understand how a lab operates and know how to use technology solutions to increase efficiency.
10. Pricing
No matter what type of support you need, pricing is always an important consideration; however, you should be careful not to emphasize price over expertise or reputation. You may be able to save money by choosing the lowest-cost provider, but your initial savings could turn into major losses if the budget option doesn’t have the expertise needed to maintain your systems and protect your business against IT threats.
If you’re in the Asia Pacific area and need an IT support partner with extensive expertise and an excellent reputation, EIRE Systems is ready to help. We’re a global leader with experience protecting businesses against data loss, providing managed services in a wide range of industries and helping businesses of all sizes choose the right technology solutions for their needs. Contact us at + 81-3-5484-7935 to find out how we can help you use technology to make your business more efficient.