Why should SME’s outsource their IT?
Times are hard. That is a fact. Winning new business is getting more challenging and budgets are getting tighter.
The reliance on computing and software has accelerated at a rapid rate and there are some key demands that companies and organisations are putting on their systems which amplify current issues and give headaches for how to progress.
The following areas are challenging:
- Working old computer equipment harder and faster
- Required to respond faster to customers and suppliers to keep ahead of the game
- The threat of cyber security issues has ramped up
- Available spend for new equipment and software is restricted
- Keeping up to date with new technology is not core to their workload
The definition of an SME is fewer than 250 members of staff, however, we are finding the fundamental demands of a 5-25 person sized company matches that of someone with 250 users. They need a fast, efficient, forward thinking IT strategy that ensures budgets are spent in a best value way.
So the question is, how do you find an employee that can offer the experience and range of skills, and the time that is required to meet all of those requirements, and more? How much does that person cost and how do you cover absenteeism, training costs, and more?
What does outsourced IT mean?
Outsourcing your IT very simply means that you contract with a provider who act as the point of contact for all things IT related.
The benefits of outsourcing your IT:
- Help reduce your costs
- In many cases the cost of hiring a specialised IT Manager is money that your business can not afford to spend. By employing an IT Support Company, you wouldn’t have the additional costs that come with an employee such as holiday pay, sick pay and insurance.
- As well as reducing your cost and increasing productivity, outsourcing can also help consolidate your IT costs into a fixed monthly payment allowing you to easily budget.
- You also do not have to pay for the training costs required to keep up with the constant developments in technology.
- Expertise
- In many cases any IT tasks required may have fallen to the person that is the most tech savvy, or someone who has some previous experience with computers. Having these tasks fall to a person who is not necessarily an expert in IT may actually cost your business more money than it would be to outsource any IT problems.
- This may be through the person having to waste time googling how to fix the problem due to lack of knowledge. If your IT was outsourced they could simply send off the problem and allow the external IT Company to fix it whilst they continue working on their main role.
- On Demand Assistance
- Your IT Support Company should have multiple highly trained IT specialists who can assist you during your times of need. Ensuring that your company can continue working even if your designated IT person is on holiday or is off sick.
- By outsourcing, the IT Support team can monitor your systems so that if there is a problem they can alert you immediately and fix the problem as quickly as possible, to ensure that your IT systems can continue working smoothly.
- Improved Focus on Your Business
- By using outsourced IT Support, you can rest at ease in the knowledge that your systems are fully protected and that if any issues do arise they will be sorted quickly and efficiently by highly trained experts.
- This therefore allows you to focus on running your business after all the last thing you need is to be worrying about and sorting out your IT issues.
- Increase productivity
- It can be difficult for your staff to be able to focus on their primary role when they are constantly being distracted with having to deal with IT issues, this can lead to a dramatic reduction in productivity with time wasted on things that could be easily sorted with the help of an expert.
- By outsourcing your employees can call or email a dedicated Helpdesk where a highly trained engineer will be able to quickly diagnose and fix their problem.
- This will reduce the amount of downtime, speed up how quickly problems are resolved and allow your staff to be able to focus more on their roles.
- Access to the latest technology
- The world of IT is a constantly developing environment and the transformation of technology is occurring at a rapid rate.
- Your IT Support company should ensure that their employees are constantly up to date with any new technology or software that could benefit their customers.
- They should have a range of partnerships and accreditations with leading technology providers.
- Members of the team should have undertaken various qualifications and courses in order to ensure that they are fully educated on the latest developments within the world of technology. Helping ensure they are experts on helping you improve the IT Sector of your business.
- Specialist advice
- Your IT Support company will have extensive experience and knowledge in a variety of different IT specialist topics, allowing them to be able to advise you on what would work best for your business.
- They should also be able to provide you with additional services based on their own expert advice.
Your Next Step:
If you think outsourcing your IT Support might be the best next step for your business contact us today and speak to one of our experts on how we can help you make the most of your IT experience.
