Off-the-Shelf is Off-the-Table

Game shows and shopping are such cornerstones of popular entertainment, it's not surprising how often they're combined with success. Shows come and go, but it's always entertaining to see how people navigate the ins and outs of consumer prices. (It's less entertaining to see how cheap things used to be!)

Supermarket Sweep was one of the big game shows of the early 90s and unlike the studio-set of The Price is Right, had contestants actually racing around grocery aisles to tally the right amount of groceries.

But while everyone knows consumer brands, off-the-shelf IT is not for business.

There is no bonus for inflatable IT hardware.

Why? For three reasons.

No Oversight

Off-the-shelf hardware lacks managerial access, so whether or not it's working, no one besides you can take a look. No one is checking its logs (if it has any), or getting its alerts (unless you are!), or keeping it up to date (if the manufacturer even supports it any more.)

It may be a one time purchase, but it's a time bomb waiting to blow.

No Lifecycle Management

With only standard one-year warranties, consumer hardware leaves you holding the bag when something goes wrong. You end up buying a new one and you end up with an office full of mismatched hardware with different ages, specifications, and brands.

Leaves Feature Gaps

Consumer hardware is not configurable to the degree that small business and enterprise level hardware can be. This leads to gaps in security (because you can't change settings that don't exist), gaps in productivity (because you end up paying for add-ons and extra services to supplement what's missing), and increases in downtime as you search to see whether or not you can do what you need.

The Answer

Is a trusted, local IT Managed Services Provider like Optics Tech Solutions. We have the team, expertise, vendor relations, and pipeline to keep your whole organization stocked, secure, and scalable. Say goodbye to big sudden bills, incompatibility, and downtime and say hello to the efficiency and peace of mind of Managed IT Services. Call us at 917-267-2048 or write nick@opticstechsolutions.com