Your business depends heavily on your IT - you want it to be reliable, don't you?

If your computer, or network breaks down, you just want it fixed as quickly as possible, before you lose too much time and money. So, would you like to know a way to avoid the majority of such breakdowns?

It's taken me 20 years to come up with a method that can do this. To the best of my knowledge, no-one else offers anything quite like the service I am about to describe to you.

There are countless IT support companies. I set out to be something other than just another one of these. I didn't just want to be able to fix a single computer, or printer or anything else in isolation because my years of programming and then software testing had taught me one very important fact: if a problem occurs, then its cause can be anywhere within the entire IT infrastructure. I wanted to find a way of seeing the whole picture, seeing how everything works with everything else and thus be able to fix anything quickly.

Being able to do this is called systems thinking - bit of an off-putting phrase, I agree, but it's use provides something unique. It allows you to makes things work and helps to keep them working!

By now, you are probably wondering whether to keep reading, aren't you? It may all sound a bit too technical. Well, please do because I am getting to the interesting bit!

I mentioned reliability at the beginning and as far as your business is concerned, this is what matters most when it comes to your IT. So if you can head off problems before they happen, think of the lost time you would save! If you knew that any problems that did occur could be isolated and fixed as quickly as possible, would that interest you?

As I said, it's taken me years to find a way to do this. I have worked on systems large and small, worked with PCs soon after they first appeared in the 1980s. But whatever the system, they are still part of a larger system, part of some form of business or organisation. Each part has to work together with the whole thing.

So now, I must introduce you to a fancy sounding expression - The System Efficiency and Configuration Test - SECT for short, an invention that makes things work and keeps them working. Here are some of the ways it can keep your business running:

1. It looks at the entire system through a series of different tests, which seek out problems or potential problems. A well known fact from the world of software testing is that the earlier a problem or ‘bug’ is detected, the cheaper it is to fix. Costs rise exponentially the longer problems remain undiscovered so any way of being able to pick these up sooner rather than later has got to be good news.
2. It establishes how existing features can be better integrated, better employed, enhanced or reconfigured. In my own experience, computing facilities used to support businesses only operate on average at around 30 to 40% of their potential capacity.

Both aspects of SECT can save you time and money:

• Problem detection and resolution costs you less the earlier it is done.
• Achieving the maximum capacity your systems can provide makes the most of your IT investment.

Consider the following: Would you drive your car for years without servicing it? I don't think so. You wouldn't just wait for it to break down, would you? No, you would have it serviced regularly, so that any potential problems are picked up early and dealt with before they become major - and expensive - problems.

Now you may be thinking - what is so special about this SECT business? Isn't this what IT support companies all do anyway? Well, actually no they don't. Sure, they will fix your problems for you, they may even do some sort of servicing for your IT equipment. But to continue the car comparison, these are more like an MOT, a basic test, which picks up on obvious problems, but does not dig too deeply.

Therein lies the difference.

You see, I can offer annual maintenance contracts for companies at substantially reduced cost - less than £2 per week per computer in most cases - because beforehand, I conduct a SECT on all the company's IT. I charge for this based on its extent and complexity. As part of SECT, I fix any problems I find and also provide a report of my findings, with suggestions for any improvements or enhancements which the company is free to have implemented if so desired.

I could give you the opportunity to see for yourself how SECT actually works. What I would do, completely free of charge, is to select any one of your computers at random (you may only have one or two, or even just the one, it doesn’t matter really) or you could chose a particular machine that may have been giving you trouble. Either way, I would spend a few minutes looking for ‘clues’, for signs of any underlying trouble.

During this brief test, I do nothing to change any programs, folders, files or settings on the computer concerned and I do not go anywhere near any of the data on it. So you need have no worries over the security aspect of what I would do.

If I find nothing of any significance in that short time, then you can feel pretty confident that the servicing you are getting is good. You won’t be needing me.

However, if I DID find something, I would tell you about it, what it means and how it might affect the computer’s future operation. From there, it is up to you how to proceed.

If I find something worthy of further investigation, I would always recommend that I carry out a full SECT service on all your equipment. But you are under NO obligation to do this. If you decide to go ahead and have the full SECT process carried out, I will give you an initial quote. If you are happy with this and I proceed, if, at the end of the process I have discovered no major risk or no major improvement area, I will reduce the fee by 50%.

As I said, there is absolutely no commitment on your part to do anything further if I carry out my short random test.

But it might just save you a whole heap of trouble (and money) further down the line.

Call me anytime on 02380 398622, or use the Contact Page. If you are located in the South of England I can usually arrange to visit you within 24 hours of you contacting me.

Remember, you are at no risk having me carry out a ’mini’ assessment for you. Also, any problems that I may find, you can happily pass to your existing IT support for resolution, if you wish. They would be glad of the business!

I do hope that I may be of service to you and I thank you for reading.

David Daish. Software Improve, Design and Test.