It’s Time to Supplement Your In-House IT Department

Many successful organizations have decades worth of legacy technology they rely upon. These older systems are usually so vital and baked into your organization that swapping them out would be a massive endeavour.
Change can be difficult. Change can be costly. Change can be extremely complicated.
Sometimes, it’s best to not change what works. What happens when your mission-critical software doesn’t play nice with modern hardware or operating systems—does it always have to force your business to scramble towards reinventing the wheel?
For instance—let’s say one of the core applications that the majority of your staff work in every day is no longer supported by the developer, and hasn’t been supported for years. It’s been working great for your organization without this support, and shifting to a new application would mean migrating your data, adjusting the new application to your workflows, altering your processes, purchasing new hardware, staff training, and a whole slew of other hassles.
If this application only runs on legacy hardware, with no support for modern operating systems, your IT department might come back and say there is no other way but to switch to something new.
However, this isn’t always the case.
Digital Sky Specializes in Complex Software and Platform Migrations
Keeping legacy software running isn’t something most IT technicians are trained to do. Most of the time, they are the first to suggest putting old software to bed to embrace something more modern. Afterall, they benefit from the support and product updates that come with new software, and software tends to become more capable and user-friendly as time goes on.
This isn’t always the best direction for a business that has come to depend on a certain application, quirks and all. It also doesn’t always make fiscal sense to take on the huge project of overhauling everything just to fit in software that runs on newer hardware. While you shouldn’t be running outdated operating systems or risking data theft by not keeping your solutions properly patched, legacy software might be so ingrained in your business that you need to keep it running.
Our team looks at software differently than most IT technicians. We understand the relationship it has with your business and overall productivity, and we know how to keep it running smoothly long after the developers stop supporting it.
We’re Not In the Business to Replace Your IT Staff
Migration projects differ from client to client, but we’re capable of migrating software platforms to virtual servers onsite or in the cloud. These projects are usually out of the scope of knowledge most day-to-day IT staff have. After all, how often does a tech in your IT department have to take a legacy application and make it work on a modern terminal server? It’s not something they tend to have experience with.
That’s okay, their role is supporting your day-to-day IT issues and maintaining the network. We’re not here to replace your existing IT staff, but we can certainly augment their skills with ours to keep you running on the platforms that have served you so well for the last several years, or even decades.
In fact, after a software migration process, we take the time to train your staff to support and maintain the platform. Your business can keep working with the solutions it’s used to, and your IT department comes out of it with the knowledge and skill to keep it running.
We call this synergy Co-Managed IT. It can cover one-off, complicated projects that your internal staff doesn’t have the time, skill, or desire to handle, or it could be a longer-term arrangement to supplement your existing IT department.
Is Co-Managed IT Right for You?
When deciding whether or not managed IT is a good fit for your organization, your existing IT team may have some reservations. The goal of managed IT is not to usurp your current IT team but to provide your organization with high-level technical expertise. Co-managed IT brings with it the experience necessary to get your technology to a modern standard… doing so without being held back by the baggage and reluctance inherent within a team that may have built the original systems themselves.
Some advantages Co-Managed IT brings your organization are:
- Increasing productivity through modernization of older technology systems (please work in some more about terminal server).
- Taking on complex projects that your internal staff isn’t trained for.
- Customizing security solutions to properly maintain your network security.
- Remote monitoring, granting improved network and infrastructure management.
- Management and maintenance in the background while your staff covers support.
Let’s Take on Your Next Complex IT Challenge
Digital Sky Solutions offers customized technology solutions personalized for your organization’s needs. When you partner with Digital Sky, you can be confident we will be with you for the long haul and provide you with solutions designed to ensure your business will continue to grow.
Our Co-managed solutions help you fill in gaps in staffing, get projects finished, handle the long-term support needs, and help you provide superior IT support for less than the cost of hiring additional internal staff.
Call (250) 483-5623 today to schedule an appointment and discuss your IT challenges with us.