A company can choose to administrate their computer environment in a reactive mode, where they assume there is little or no chance of being hit by a computer failure. This can be a good choice for systems containing low priority information that can be recreated, where it is just a loss of time if a system fails. In reactive mode, one assumes there will not be a failure and thus nothing is done to prepare for it.

Unfortunately, such decisions are made early on, when systems are indeed low priority, but this philosophy can be held long after the data becomes critical to the business and a failure hits. Companies need to periodically (ex. twice a year) review their computer systems and apply prudent system administration practices similar to their justification to purchase insurance for their business.

Start Small

System administration duties can start with an employee following a set of proactive computer practices on a daily / weekly / monthly / and quarterly basis. This person could spend as little as one hour a week. You could use someone to call when you encounter something you need help with, so you identify a computer consulting firm, who offers an on-call service.

Increase Time As Needed

Through periodic review, you can identify your business' growing dependency on their computer systems and the data contained within them. If the computer allows you to:

• Increase your sales
• Significantly improve your product quality
• Save you a substantial amount of time
• Handle a larger client base than you could have without the computer

Then you've justified the need for the computers and the need to increase the amount of proactive system administration duties beyond part-time. If this designated person can be more productive doing their primary responsibilities, then you can justify using a computer consulting firm who offers a preventive maintenance service. A consulting firm can leverage management tools and personnel to provide more consistent service than can be done internally.

When You Can't Afford Downtime

At some point, your computer dependency could grow to the point where computer downtime will leave you idle for 8 hours. When the cost of a single incident of idle employees exceeds the cost of more fault-tolerant computers, then you're ready to up-scale your computer environment.

If your business grows to the point where you need a larger and more complex computer environment to keep up with the business, you'll want to protect your computer investment with an appropriate level of computer expertise. At this point, it's time to evaluate the benefits of a computer consulting firm who offers on-site service vs. hiring a full-time internal computer person.