Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Points in favor of hiring out IT

I am obviously aware of the cost issue of hiring out IT for the office. And I suspect most of us here are at least marginally computer capable. But, here is a routine note, similar to one I get once a month or so, from my IT guy today about what he is doing on a routine basis. How much of this would I have missed or just not had time for if I were trying to do it on my own? Not to trumpet our system or start a load of comments on exactly how it we are set up, just to give a flavor of how much stuff there really is to do on a recurring basis, for those who think they need to get away without hiring out:

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I just wanted to make you aware of some of the work being done in your office.

Last weekend Jeremy did a routine patch and reboot of the servers. This included tuning the AC database

Our reporting tools indicated the following:
Avast Server was not communicating with the computers. A patch was required to fix this.
A newer version of Avast Business was released with version 1.2.2.8 . This release required the Virtual Machine to be fully updated. Both tasks where completed.
All windows computers required updating. I used Group Policy to instruct the computers to download these updates and either install at shutdown or at 8am on Saturday. So for those computers that get shutdown every night they will install updates at this time and for those who like to leave there computer running, the updates will install on Saturday morning.

This weekend we would like to go into the office to make sure updates are being installed as planned. If everything is working correctly we will not have much to do. However the last time I was in the server room I noticed a significant amount of dust build up. I would like to go through all the desktops and servers and clean them out.

There is one ongoing issue that I will be working on in the near future. Active scanning has been disabled on the Servers since the upgrade. This may be done by design as it is usually not recommended to allow active scanning on servers. The servers still get scanned at a scheduled time after hours. I would still like to verify this with Avast support.

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I suspect that some others here, like me, have other interests beyond computers and medicine. I would encourage the view that investing in IT support may well plug some very nasty vulnerabilities that otherwise go unnoticed. As the saying goes, "If you can't afford to do it right, how are you going to be able to afford to do it over?"

That's an awesome post. My sentiments exactly. And, even though they may charge a bit, they do it in 1/3 of the time.

I like the fact that he/she shares what they are doing as this helps you learn what needs to be done on an ongoing basis. Not good for their job security, though.

And for those who can't get IT to come to them, you can always find some that can remote in to your server. Some you pay hourly, some have a contract. The latter generally give unlimited email support.

Everyone should read David's post.

Just wondering (roughly) what the IT PM services that David mentions should cost a practice with a server and, say 20 workstations? I have entertained the idea of contracted IT support from time to time, but my previous experience as a Medical Manager client left our small practice with breathtaking costs.

It all depends on the level of the technician. A more skilled technician will have a higher hourly charge, but will get the job done much faster. Your average IT guy familiar with P2P would cost you a fortune configuring each workstation individually. (There's just such a wide range of IT professionals out there.) A more highly skilled technician could update all of the workstations simultaneously. Some of them can even give you loaded Windows 7 Package on all of the computers with AC, MS Office, and any other program/drivers you might need preloaded in just a few hours. It would take days for the other guy. This is why you see large companies using computers that are more or less the same. Makes life 10 times easier when you have a standard set of hardware. You can keep replacements handy too.

Basically, choose one that matches the size of your practice. Lots of them work remotely nowadays. I do too. Allows for instant support along with other benefits. Usually a meeting is just required to get the initial hardware in place. After that it's cheaper and more efficient for both parties to use remote support.

John, Very good point. Many are between a rock and a hard place. I use an offsite IT person. 35 years with complete Microsoft certification, online blog (just means he can't be too dumb). He is always saying, and I mean always, "An IT person wouldn't treat their pneumonia." He just doesn't understand why doctors support their own computers. You can spend a year learning DNS. For an example, while Essentials and SBS 2011 was a piece of cake for him, he spends every working hour learning and running Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Imagine his many clients calling for help with 2012, and he has to say, "Sorry, haven't learned that one yet. I have the same issue." But, as John says it costs money. But, money well spent.

Many really proficient, certified IT specialists want service contracts. This usually comes with remoting into your server or computer and making sure it is well oiled DAILY. Making DAMNED sure you have good backups. But, others charge by the hour and usually ask around $75.00 an hour. What do we make. Generally 4 visits times, oh, $60 to $75 an hour.

There are also generally really good computer stores in your area that fix computers and have IT for cabling and networking. One thing to negotiate is are they on call.