Does your business need ways to manage IT system health? It may seem like a complex process because managing IT health involves looking at the systems and hardware in great detail. It requires completing specific actions to aid in IT infrastructure management. But there are two main IT support service methods that make the process easier – real-time monitoring and scheduled maintenance.
These processes both have strengths and limitations, pros and cons, so you may have been unsure which option works best for your company. In our article, our managed IT services professionals will help you understand the difference between real-time IT monitoring and scheduled maintenance. We will explore their pros and cons to help you choose which is needed for your business.
What is Real-Time IT Monitoring?
Real-time IT monitoring is a process in which managed IT services professionals continuously oversee IT systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In real-time monitoring, experts look closely at the networks and endpoints using tools such as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, ManageEngine OpManager, or Atera. Additionally, alert systems and dashboards aid in the real-time monitoring process.
Monitoring in real time aims to detect issues with IT systems when they take place. Since the monitoring approach is completed 24/7, professionals who handle the process can spot the issues before they lead to major disruptions to your business.
What is Scheduled IT Maintenance?
While real-time monitoring happens continuously, scheduled IT maintenance is a process in which planned reviews, updates and hardware or software checks take place at scheduled intervals. The process involves patching, which is installing updates, as well as addressing security vulnerabilities in software applications. It also involves completing backups and hardware inspections.
Scheduled IT maintenance is naturally a preventative method for addressing hardware and software issues, but it isn’t always responsive to real-time threats.
Pros and Cons of Real-Time Monitoring
There are multiple advantages and a few disadvantages of real-time monitoring for IT systems. We have looked at the pros and cons below to help you choose whether this service is ideal.
Pros
Here are the advantages of real-time monitoring for your IT systems:
- Quicker Responses to Incidents - Since issues are detected quickly, your business can address them the moment they happen. This leads to less downtime for your IT systems and enhances business operations
- Enhanced Security - As real-time monitoring helps spot suspicious activity when it happens, you can prevent security threats or breaches before they develop into a significant problem.
- Better Network Performance - Because real-time monitoring detects bottlenecks or data flow limitations, your business can fix these issues promptly before they affect network users.
Cons
Here are a few factors to think about when choosing real-time IT monitoring services:
- Large Amounts of Data - Without professional managed IT services to help you, managing large amounts of data related to IT system issues can be challenging to handle in real-time IT monitoring services.
- Shouldn’t Replace Past Performance Analysis - Even though it works well for the current IT issues before they cause disruptions, your business shouldn’t use real-time IT monitoring to replace past performance analysis.
Pros and Cons of Scheduled IT Maintenance
There are also multiple benefits and drawbacks of scheduled IT maintenance. Below, we have explored these pros and cons in detail.
Pros
Here are the benefits of scheduled maintenance tasks:
- Budget-Friendly - Your company can expect a budget-friendly service and predictable costs, so you know which expenses you need to take care of. You can also save money by avoiding costly emergency repairs in the future.
- Simpler Routine Updates - Since the scheduled IT maintenance work includes routine updates, hardware maintenance is easier to achieve. This can extend the lifespan of the hardware and boost its performance.
- Easy to Schedule - With the flexibility of these services, it’s easy to plan scheduled IT maintenance around your company’s business hours according to your schedule, which minimizes disruptions.
Cons
But make sure you consider the following factors related to scheduled IT maintenance before choosing this service:
- Real-Time Threats are Not Covered - Because scheduled IT maintenance is not completed 24/7, real-time threats such as ransomware issues and server crashes can go undetected and threaten the operating system.
- System Health Remains Unknown Between Checks - Since scheduled IT maintenance isn’t continuous, the health of your IT systems remain unknown because of the limited visibility into its performance.
When Should Businesses Use Real-Time Monitoring?
To handle situations like these, real-time monitoring can be useful. The process offers greater visibility into system health between checks, and there are many ideal situations when businesses should use real-time monitoring.
If systems need to be available constantly, real-time IT monitoring is a must-have process. In businesses such as e-commerce sites, healthcare, and SaaS, real-time monitoring ensures constant uptime, helping to prevent failed transactions, avoid system errors, and maintain continued access to cloud-based apps, respectively.
If your company has remote teams or several office locations, distributed operations can mean issues occur at any time in any location. But you can rely on real-time IT monitoring to ensure connectivity and authentication do not fail or impact virtual private networks or internal systems. The result is a constantly productive remote team and immediate interventions if the connectivity fails.
It’s also important to use real-time monitoring if your work environment needs instant security. For example, if you’ve noticed that a malicious actor has aimed to breach your network, you can’t rely on scheduled maintenance. Instead, real-time monitoring is key to limiting future cyber security threats.
When Scheduled Maintenance is Still Ideal
Yet scheduled maintenance is still ideal in specific situations. If your business has a simple IT environment, the need for real-time monitoring is not as pressing as it is for environments needing instant security. It can make do with scheduled maintenance, which is easy to fit in if the business has fixed office hours (after which system checks can be scheduled during weekends).
Additionally, you can still benefit from scheduled maintenance activities as an extra service when you have real-time monitoring in place. It offers a more comprehensive approach for keeping systems up to date and can complement the monitoring process to help maintain system stability.
Combining Real-Time Monitoring & Scheduled Maintenance
It’s worth emphasizing that your company doesn’t have to settle for one of these services over the other. You have the alternative option of combining real-time monitoring and scheduled maintenance to get better protection both proactively and when updates are required.
The good news is that managed IT service providers like Tech Masters Inc offer both of these services in a single package. So if you want to use monitoring for alerts and maintenance for scheduled system updates, make sure you check the services at Tech Masters Inc for more information.
Monitor 24/7, Complete Maintenance Frequently with Tech Masters Inc
While real-time monitoring helps detect issues the moment they take place, scheduled IT maintenance is naturally a preventative method that protects and updates systems at intervals.
Having reliable IT systems depends on both preventative and proactive strategies, which is why relying on both of these approaches is important. A managed IT service provider can help you with these processes, which is why we recommend partnering with maintenance team professionals such as those at Tech Masters Inc. Work with a trusted IT provider to build a custom plan that fits your business and risk profile. Monitor 24/7 and complete maintenance frequently with Tech Masters.
FAQs
What Will Happen During the Scheduled IT Maintenance?
Scheduled maintenance involves a few tasks like system checks and hardware servicing, and during the process, IT users are notified about the duration of downtime. Experts will complete data backups, disaster recovery planning, and handling to keep the sensitive data safe throughout the process.
How Will Businesses be Notified in Scheduled IT Maintenance
The managed IT services company will use email communication channels and provide reminders to your business before the scheduled maintenance takes place. This means you will have sufficient notice as well as details on how to get support during the process.
What Are the Key Objectives of Real-Time IT System Monitoring
Three key objectives of real-time IT system monitoring include keeping operations running smoothly to minimize downtime, ensure security is enhanced to mitigate threats, and monitor the use of resources to optimize them for your company.