“DOES my company need an IT support contract?” is a question I am regularly asked by business managers from a range of companies.

My answer to all has been: “If your computer systems, internet access and websites are significant contributors to the success of your business, you would benefit from support back-up, but this need not necessarily mean signing a support contract”.

Like all business decisions, choosing to sign up for a support contract as opposed to relying on calling in help when needed, must make commercial sense.

My personal view of support is that it works on three levels – prevention where possible, preparation for inevitable failures and fixing the problems that will occur as quickly as possible.

Prevention of failures includes installing and keeping up-to-date antivirus, spam and spyware filters on all workstations and servers. Monitoring software is available that oversees the performance of computers, servers and websites, informing the support provider of potential problems and providing a window of opportunity to prevent larger problems from occurring.

Running regular system health checks also help in the prevention of problems.

Preparation for a failure is key to a speedy recovery. Regularly backing up critical data, keeping set-up discs in an easily-accessible location, creating back-up system discs and an inventory of computer profiles all help to reduce the time needed to get systems back up and running and ensures critical information is not lost.

If prevention and preparation measures are in place, fixing the problems that do occur is made significantly easier.

Forward planning for spare parts can make sure they are available as and when they are needed. If back-ups and recovery discs are kept, restoring systems can be done without necessarily needing an onsite call-out. If a call-out is necessary, contract clients in the main get priority.

Estimates suggest that 80 per cent of small businesses that suffer a serious computer failure cease trading within two years, suggesting there is a sound business case for some level of IT support.

Developing a sound working relationship with an IT support company need not be expensive, there are a number of support packages available and most suppliers are happy to tailor support to the needs of the customer.

■ Kevin McLean is director of Northgate Systems of Stanhope, County Durham.