Outsourced IT Support – How to save money & reduce stress
Who can resist saving money, with the added benefit of reduced stress that Outsourced IT Support can deliver! All successful businesses appreciate the importance of healthy cash flow. That goes at least double for SMEs who often do not have the financial resources of their larger counterparts.
Part of the art and science of staying cash-flow positive is keeping costs down and efficiency up, which is why IT support is usually the right option for most SMEs (and many larger companies). Here are the three main reasons for this:
1. Outsourced IT – Saves money by getting specialists on board
If there is one major argument for outsourcing IT Support then this is probably it: managing IT today involves understanding the technology itself and appreciating how it empowers the business. However, it also must include knowing how it can be used securely and guiding businesses away from insecure technologies.
This is a specialist niche and reliable professionals have to keep up-to-date with developments in their field, acquiring new skills at a rapid pace.
Mistakes can cause serious pain to businesses, especially in a post-GDPR world. In simple terms, either you have someone on your side who really understands the complexities of modern IT, or you risk falling victim to someone who does. This will become even more crucial in the forthcoming years as the Internet of Things means that offices become connected in ways you might never have imagined.
You don’t want your IT to be a system that nobody takes responsibility for or completely understands.
2. Outsourcing saves on recruitment and training costs
Because IT knowledge is changing all the time, outsourcing to specialists avoids the need to constantly train and update your staff on the latest news. The business you outsource your IT support to will take responsibility for its own training needs, and your business can relax in the knowledge that you are in safe hands.
3. Outsourced IT Support delivers economies of scale
Even if your company works 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, your IT systems need to be monitored 24/7. This often not an easy matter for the average SME to manage out of their own resources. There is, for example, usually a limit to how often you can expect any one person to be on call, especially if you need them to be able to function at a high level.
What’s more, professionals are only as good as the tools to which they have access and many licence models offer discounts to larger customers, which means that smaller companies who try to keep their IT support in-house end up paying more for these tools than outsourcing services to those who buy licences in bulk.
4. Efficiency is prioritised with IT Support Companies
If a non-specialist in your office tries to fix a malfunctioning printer or save the company from an infected computer, the hours and hours of work they put in may still result in no solutions.
Having an outsourced specialist streamlines the process and problems that may take one person a whole day to fix can sometimes be resolved in minutes by a Managed IT Services provider such as WeSeeNow.