You arrive at the office with your coffee, ready to tackle the day. You sit down at your desk, wiggle your mouse, and . . . nothing. Your computer won't connect to the printer, your accounting software throws an error you've never seen before, and half your team is standing around because they can't access the files they need.
You didn't change anything, click on a suspicious email, or install new software, so what happened?
Most likely, Microsoft or Google changed something overnight, and now your business is paying the price.
The Update Schedule Nobody Told You About
Microsoft has something called "Patch Tuesday." Every second Tuesday of the month, they push out updates to millions of computers worldwide. Sometimes these updates fix security problems, sometimes they add new features, and sometimes they break things that were working perfectly fine yesterday.
Google takes a different approach. They're constantly tweaking, adding, and removing features from their services. That Chrome browser you use updates itself automatically, Google Workspace changes regularly, and those old integrations your business relies on might be deprecated with a few months' notice, or sometimes less.
Here's what you need to know: this probably isn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong; this is just how software works now.
When Updates Go Wrong
Picture this scenario: You have a large-format printer from 2006 that still works perfectly. It prints your architectural drawings, your retail signage, whatever specialized documents your business needs. Then Tuesday night happens. Microsoft pushes out an update that changes how Windows talks to printers, and on Wednesday morning your $15,000 printer might as well be a brick.
The driver that makes your printer work doesn't play nice with the new update. The printer manufacturer stopped supporting that model years ago, so there's no new driver coming. You're stuck.
Or consider what happened in July 2024. A single bad update from CrowdStrike took down 8.5 million Windows computers globally. Airports, hospitals, and banks all went offline. The update itself was the problem.
How Managed Service Providers Handle Updates Differently
When you allow your computers to update themselves automatically, you're basically crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. When you work with a managed service provider, the whole process changes.
MSPs don't roll out updates to every computer at once; they test first. They'll deploy a new patch to a small group of machines and watch what happens. Does the accounting software still work? Do the printers respond? Are there any weird conflicts?
Only after testing do they roll updates out to your entire network. And they do it in stages, monitoring at every step.
Here's what most business owners don't realize: many computers fail to update properly on their own. The update might hang halfway through or install incorrectly. Your computer might show you a green checkmark saying everything is fine when, actually, that security patch never applied correctly.
An MSP tracks all of this. They know which machines updated successfully and which need human intervention. If a computer won't take an important security update, they'll fix it manually rather than leaving it exposed to threats.
The Real Cost of DIY Updates
How long does your business stay offline when updates break something? How many people are sitting idle? How many customer orders are delayed?
More importantly, how do you prevent it from happening again next month?
This is exactly what we solve. Our managed service approach means updates get tested before they hit your systems. Problems get caught early, and when something does go wrong, we're already monitoring it and working on the fix before you even notice.
Let's Talk About Your Update Strategy
Don't wait until the next Patch Tuesday creates chaos in your office. Give us a call at 555-5555, and let's discuss how managed patch management can protect your business from these disruptions.
