December means holiday events, family reunions, and road trips -- in other words, vacations. You may have already received a number of requests for holiday vacation time from members of your IT team, and that’s only right. Technical workers have certainly put in the hours this year, especially with added burdens of heavy teleconferencing and remote collaboration usage. They deserve a break -- but before you’re left with the barest of technical skeleton crews, make sure you’ve taken the necessary steps to automate some critical IT functions.

The most obvious concern revolves around those mundane but important tasks such as data backup and security updates. It’s all too easy to fall behind on these services even with all hands on deck, which is why many businesses already employ outsourced managed service providers to keep things current. Skip one critical patch or OS update, and you may make your company vulnerable to all kinds of threats from ransomware and security breaches. Neglect your backup routine, and when a serious problem does occur with your data you may be stuck with whatever old news the previous backup managed to capture.

Don’t forget the need to maintain your IT helpdesk services during the holidays. Even a skeleton crew needs technical assistance now and then. If you’re in the software development industry, you’ll also need a skilled team on hand to help customers through the learning curve of their new apps or platforms.

Fortunately, you can keep all these wheels spinning without cancelling the holidays for your IT staff. Our Austin IT managed services team can take over these functions for you, both over the holidays and (if you wish) on an ongoing basis. We can augment your core IT group in any area that might need beefing up, so contact Gravity Systems today!