Imagine a warehouse worker in the middle of packing an order and their handheld scanner stops working. Restarting it doesn’t fix the issue. The battery is charged. The apps are loaded. IT is notified, but until they find the right fix, the worker is stuck waiting, orders are backing up and productivity has slowed.
When this happens once, it may just seem like a consequence of using mobile devices. But, when the same thing happens the next day and the week after that, the downtime adds up quickly.
For many organizations, this kind of reactive troubleshooting has become a normal part of managing a device fleet. Immediate issues are resolved to get devices back online, but the underlying issues remain hidden.
So, how do you know if your organization is relying too heavily on reactive troubleshooting? And what is the better alternative? Continue reading this blog to discover the answers.
What is Reactive Troubleshooting?
Reactive troubleshooting is exactly what it sounds like: a device issue happens, and IT steps in to fix it.
The common order of operations for reactive troubleshooting is as follows: a device fails, an employee reports the problem to their manager, the manager reports the issue to IT, IT investigates the problem and works to restore the device. This approach does lead to resolved device issues, but it also means IT is responding to problems after they have already disrupted operations, rather than preventing them.
Three common disadvantages of reactive troubleshooting are:
Lost Productivity: Employees are unable to complete critical tasks while a device is offline.
Increased IT Workload: IT teams experience an increased number of support tickets, as they are responding to repetitive issues.
Recurring Problems: Without visibility into patterns and underlying causes, the same issues will continue to resurface.
Reactive vs Proactive Troubleshooting
Reactive troubleshooting starts after something goes wrong and is communicated with IT.
Proactive troubleshooting uses device data, real-time monitoring and historical insights to identify potential issues before they cause disruptions.
For example, if several devices in a warehouse are repeatedly experiencing battery failures, a reactive approach addresses each failure as it happens. A proactive approach, however, can identify the pattern, allowing IT to investigate the underlying cause and address it before more devices are affected.
The Tell-Tale Signs Your Business Relies on Reactive Troubleshooting
IT primarily hears about device problems from employees.
The same device issues keep coming back.
Troubleshooting only starts after productivity has already been affected.
IT spends a significant amount of time investigating individual device incidents.
Your business lacks historical data to identify recurring device problems or trends.
If these signs sound familiar, your device fleet may be creating hidden inefficiencies that are easy to overlook. Moving from reactive to proactive troubleshooting will help your IT team identify issues earlier, resolve them faster and keep employees working.
SOTI MobiControl XS combines an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution with diagnostic intelligence and remote support. This supercharged tool ensures your business has the right analysis, support and management tools needed to streamline mobile operations. For more information about how SOTI MobiControl XS can transform reactive into proactive troubleshooting, book a demo today.
