5 Signs Your Dental Office Needs Managed IT Services

There is no denying that the healthcare sector is facing a host of modern threats when it comes to cybersecurity. In terms of malicious online attacks, the healthcare sector is the number one target. In fact, 1.5 million patients had their data breached in September of 2019 alone. 
Cybersecurity is just one of the major reasons why dental offices nationwide are choosing to outsource their IT to an IT Managed Service Provider (MSP) who can oversee their cybersecurity and make adjustments as new threats evolve. Partnering with an MSP who offers managed IT services for dental offices and who understands healthcare compliance regulations is especially important for medical offices to keep their data secure.
Here are five signs your office may be at risk of suffering a cyberattack or extended periods of downtime, and why that means you should turn to IT managed services for dental offices:

1. You’re Lacking a Cybersecurity Plan

As discussed, threat of a data breach is only expanding for healthcare organizations. From ransomware to phishing, there are many forms of malicious activities that cybercriminals are using to access to confidential data. If you do not act now, you could find yourself suffering a data breach, which costs you non-compliance fines, cleanup fees, and patient trust. 
The first aspect of creating a cybersecurity plan is to figure out what the vulnerabilities in your system are and patch them. Managed Service Providers with a background in healthcare IT can perform an assessment to determine these weaknesses and offer the best solutions for your unique office. 
From there, an MSP can oversee this plan and make improvements to it as zero-day vulnerabilities are uncovered and new threats emerge. What’s more, the best MSPs use a proactive—rather than a break-fix—approach to make sure they patch issues before they cause major damage or security risk to your systems, which also decreases downtime.

2. Your IT Staff Can’t Manage Everything 

Some dental practices only have one or two IT specialists to manage their entire IT infrastructure. These tasks might even be delegated to the receptionist or a staff member who really isn’t trained to handle business IT. This can be risky to say the least. Without the technical know-how to keep the systems up-to-date, run the necessary updates, and ensure that high levels of security are maintained, you put your systems at risk. 
Even if you do have an in-house IT specialist or two, it’s unlikely that they have the time and resources to handle everything from network maintenance, to data backup and storage, to cybersecurity defense and threat prevention. Downtime and data breaches are bound to occur in these situations, as your untrained or small staff is forced to focus their limited resources and attention on imminent threats only, as other IT maintenance falls by the wayside.
With an MSP, you have access to a full-stack team of IT professionals whose time and resources are much greater than a single IT specialist (often at the same cost as one). They take on the responsibility of managing your IT top to bottom—including even minute tasks such as performing basic upgrades and regular maintenance. When it comes down to it, MSPs who offer IT managed services for dental offices ensure your infrastructure stays healthy 24/7, which reduces the risk of security breaches and periods of downtime.

3. Frequent Troubleshooting is Interrupting Normal Business Operations

The vast majority of companies today rely on technology heavily to help streamline their services and practices. However, when mistakes happen, a substantial amount of time and resources are required to fix them. Without a professional team to maintain your IT systems regularly, you are going to be taking time away from patient care to address these problems. 
But as you outsource to a managed service provider with experience in the dental practice sector, they will be able to ensure your equipment is maintained properly so that issues don’t cause more damage than they should. This reduces the need to troubleshoot or attend to frequent IT issues as well as enhances overall productivity within your office.

4. Your Infrastructure Can’t Keep Up with Your Growing Business

You know that you need to scale your IT services when your IT network is struggling to keep up with your growing business. If your IT is falling behind as your business expands, you risk hitting a wall in terms of business success. You can’t continue to grow if your technology isn’t scalable to projected goals.
With an IT managed service provider, however, you have an IT team that has all of the latest knowledge and training in how to adapt your infrastructure and make it scalable for future. They dedicate themselves to understanding your unique business needs, challenges, and objectives so that they can provide the best solutions—both long-term and short-term—available

5. Your IT Strategy Doesn’t Support Your Corporate Goals 

If your IT strategy does not align with your company goals or you do not have an IT strategy at all, then, as with a non-scalable infrastructure, your company is unlikely to continue growing. 
Any business needs to plan how to utilize technology if they are going to be successful and grow efficiently. As your company becomes successful, you need to plan for technological adaptations, expanding network infrastructure, and how greater staffing will impact your expanding infrastructure. This is why it is important to work alongside experienced professionals who can provide IT managed services for dental offices to help you to navigate new challenges as you grow and ensure technology is managed in goal-specific and efficient ways.

Contact adNET Today for Custom IT Managed Services for Dental Offices

If your business is experiencing any of these signs, there is no need to fret—adNET can help you create a stronger, healthier IT infrastructure with our IT services for dental offices. We have many years of experience as a managed IT services provider in the healthcare sector, and we understand how to strategize a cybersecurity plan that works with your unique business. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help your systems stay secure, compliant, and adaptable.