What’s the best way to get the right IT support for your business? While the natural inclination might be to hire in-house IT staff, it’s not always the best option. Why? Because hiring IT staff members is a complex process that takes time and careful consideration. Even after you hire someone, there are difficulties to manage, such as vacation time, employee turnover, and the training they’ll need to keep their technical skills relevant. That’s where working with an outsourced IT company can give your business an advantage.
Outsourcing to a trusted managed IT services partner helps you solve all those issues. By giving you on-demand access to a full team of engineers and technicians who are armed with the latest intelligence and tools, you get the assurance that your technology is always well-supported and aligned with your business goals.
Below are some of the warning signs that it’s time to start outsourcing your IT to a trusted partner, instead of going it alone.
Chronic network downtime is one of the killers of business productivity. Reputable sources like Carbonite say that just an hour of network downtime can cost a small business between $127 and $427 an hour, while Gartner found the average cost rises to $5,600 per minute for midsized businesses.
Perhaps you don’t have an IT team, or maybe your IT staff is too small for your organization. In either scenario, if your team can’t handle each of the tasks below with confidence, it may be time to consider outsourcing.
To ensure that important maintenance tasks are completed on time, many companies look to an outsourced IT support provider, like a managed IT services partner. For a single, flat monthly fee, a reputable MSP will help you handle all the above-mentioned work on an outsourced basis, helping ensure optimal uptime, saving you money, and giving your staff the morale boost that comes with reliable technology.
In-house IT staff often become the de facto technology experts in your company, but with the speed at which technology changes and evolves, it’s simply untenable to rely on them for expertise in all areas. The best way to access the latest IT skills and knowledge — without breaking the bank on expensive new hires — is to work with an outsourced IT partner.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a transformative new technology that continues to radically reshape how businesses share information, collaborate, innovate, engage with customers, and more. But even in 2020, after over ten years of experience working with cloud technologies, 33% of cloud migrations are still failing to meet their stated objectives.
The reality is that cloud computing success is still not easy. This is especially true when trying to integrate legacy on-premise systems with new cloud-based ones, or ensure optimal security of cloud applications. A reputable MSP with a dedicated cloud team can help you solve those problems.
Mobile Device Management
Today’s workforce is growing more mobile, thanks in no small part to the COVID-19 crisis. But pandemic aside, there’s ample evidence that shows millennial and younger employees all have high standards for their technology, which includes the ability to work from wherever they want using mobile devices.
Managing cell phones, tablets, and IoT devices takes a specialized set of skills and technologies. Whether you decide to go the bring-your-own-device-route (BYOD) or issue company-owned equipment to your staff, those devices (and the data on them) will need to be properly managed, tracked, and maintained to keep sensitive information away from unauthorized hands. Most of those skills are outside the expertise of an in-house IT team.
Managed IT services providers will help you ensure the success and security of your mobile solutions.
They’re helpful in things like:
Achieving and maintaining strong cybersecurity protections is a persistent challenge for businesses of all sizes. A global lack of cybersecurity talent means that even enterprises that have the resources to hire cybersecurity staff have a difficult time finding and keeping them. Small and midsized businesses that lack those resources are left to fend for themselves.
Because there is essentially no way SMBs can achieve strong cybersecurity protections without outsourcing, established MSPs have taken great length to design cybersecurity offerings that empower their clients to face their security challenges with confidence.
Outsourcing cybersecurity to a trusted partner allows you to realize enterprise-grade cybersecurity on a SMB budget.
For some small businesses, working with a break-fix provider who comes onsite and repairs your technology only after it’s started malfunctioning is an important phase. It allows them to only use support when they need it and keep tight control over cost.
But there comes a time in the development of every business when that ad hoc approach to technology becomes more of a liability than a benefit. Here are some of the indicators that you may have reached that point in your development.
If you answered yes to any of those questions, it may be time to upgrade your IT company and work with a technology partner that can help you address each of those areas, and many others, with confidence.
After nearly two decades, Complete Network has grown into one of the premier managed IT service providers in the country. If your business in Albany, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, or Bluffton, South Carolina wants to maximize the impact of its technology while discovering a new level of IT confidence, we encourage you to reach out and see how we can help.
Our friendly, knowledgeable staff is available any time to ask your questions at 877-877-1840.
In an ideal world, technology would be a consistent source of competitive advantage and benefit for small and midsized businesses. The reality is that many fail to realize that confidence.
Without the right resources and support, even a highly skilled technology team can become overwhelmed by the growing list of technology management duties. When important tasks get neglected, it creates ripple effects throughout an organization that damage productivity and efficiency.
The co-managed IT services model solves these problems by providing your existing IT team with all the support and resources they need to successfully plan, manage, and defend your network technology.
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