EF Fall 07.indd - National Association of Professional Allstate ...

can’t write new business or even intelligentlyanswer customer inquiries! And,what about the 29 days of the month thetech isn’t at your office? Every once in awhile you hear about viruses that takedown entire companies. What happensif your system gets infected by a virusthe day after their visit? Will you be unprotecteduntil they come back out again29 days later to update your anti-virussoftware? The answer is yes, becauseuntil someone comes out to update yourcomputers, you are exposed. Once again,you will have to have a technician makean on-site visit with another five hour responsetime. Once the technician arrives,it may be several more hours to get yoursystem up and running, depending onthe problem. Sure, the cost of the technician’svisit is covered, but what about thetime and money it has cost your agencyin lost revenues?There is a better way -Managed Services:A managed service provider (MSP)is a company that manages informationtechnology services remotely. MostMSPs provide the following services ona monthly basis:• 24X7 monitoring of your computers,servers and your entire network• Updating your computers and serverswith critical security patches• Virus and spyware definitions• Backing up of your vital businessinformation• Help desk assistance with questionsyou may have about your hardwareor softwareManaged Service Providers offerseveral different price structures. Themost common is a flat monthly fee.They monitor your IT infrastructureand resolve any issues that arise withinit. This allows you an option to haveyour IT needs taken care of instead ofpaying for an on-site staff or waitinguntil an issue arises.Managed Service Providers utilizesoftware to manage your businessescomputing needs. These remote tools allowthe MSP to virtually manage a company’sentire network operations offsitewithout ever having to step foot into thecompany. This allows you to focus onwhat you do best and keep your IT expensesat a minimum. This remote solutionis not an end all to every issue thatmay come up. There may be a need for atechnician to come on-site from time totime. Generally, the only time this wouldoccur is when there is a physical failure ofa piece of equipment and that piece hasto be replaced. The on-site visit, however,will only be scheduled after all remotesupport options are exhausted.As Allstate corporate pulls back ontheir support, it is now up to you to makethe decisions about whom and how youare going to maintain and support youroffice’s technology. If you choose to haveit done “in house”, make sure you keepan eye on the real cost of having yoursupport staff troubleshoot and maintainyour office technology. Remember, youhired them to help you make money inthe insurance business, not to manageand maintain your agency’s lifeblood.If you choose to have someone do itfor you, you can find plenty of local ITproviders in the Yellow Pages or online.When you are interviewing a provider,there are three important questions youneed to ask:1. Do you provide Remote ManagedServices? If not, how are you going tosupport my office while keeping the officeinterruption and my costs to a minimum?2. If you provide Managed Services,what hours of coverage does your SupportDesk provide? (They should bemonitoring you 24X7 to address yourneeds in real time)3. What are your escalation procedures?If I have an issue, how are you goingto handle it to get me back up andrunning as quickly as possible?A quality Managed Services Provider’sprimary goal is simply this, to becomeyour trusted advisor. When it comes toyour office’s IT, their focus should be onleveraging technology to maximize efficienciesand minimize costs. Keep thatin mind as you move forward with revolutionarychanges you, your agency andyour staff are about to go through in thenext several months.Bryan German is the operations managerof Expetec Technology Services a remoteManaged Services Provider franchise. Ifyou have questions regarding this article orwould like additional information, pleasecontact Bryan at bgerman@expetec.com or888-297-2292 Ext. 3016Technology made easy!See how effortless it is to fully utilize the power of your technology.Expetec Technology Services is ready to help Allstate agents with:(see article in this publication)business goalsContact us for the Expetecprovider in your area.Our Experts. Your Technology.Locations throughout U.S. and Canada.Fall 2007 Exclusivefocus — 51