[BreachExchange] How IT Support Can Determine The Growth Of A Small Business

[Audrey McNeil]

http://www.businesscomputingworld.co.uk/how-it-support-can-determine-
the-growth-of-a-small-business/

The constant reliance on technology may not always be obvious to end users,
who see applications and online services as an extension of themselves, but
businesses in all fields need stable systems in order to operate. No matter
how advanced your tech might be, something can always go wrong, from a
crashed server to a buggy system update. When that happens, your entire
operations can be affected and the danger is even higher for small
businesses, which don’t have the staff, budget and expertise of Fortune 500
companies.

Although the first solution that comes to mind when dealing with these
cases is having a dedicated internal IT department, this is not the most
cost-effective idea for small businesses. At the same time, not including
IT support on your list of priorities is a huge mistake and can set back
your business. The right balance comes from managed IT support services,
which not only can maintain and fix your infrastructure when needed, but
also contributes to the growth of your business in the long run. Here’s how:

Outsourcing IT Support Reduces Costs

Small business owners often have to make tough decisions when drafting
their annual budget. Limited funds imply sacrifices, so paying a monthly
fee for managed IT support may sound like more than you can afford.
However, looking at the big picture, outsourced IT support is much more
convenient than hiring tech support personnel. If you were to do this, you
would have to pay for a monthly salary, onsite equipment, training,
insurance and other costs, not to mention that only one IT support
specialist may not be enough.

When drawing the line, the cost of in-house IT support would be
considerably higher than if you were to outsource it. Paying just a fixed
fee gives you financial stability. No matter what happens, you know for
sure how much you have to pay, there will be no unexpected costs, and this
will help you better plan your expenses. A 2014 surveyshows that more than
more than 50% of businesses outsource IT support and 20% are considering
doing so in the near future. At the same time, the vast majority of those
interviewed said that they were happy with the costs of managed IT support
services (80%), so from a financial perspective this solution is the safest
one.

Hiring Another Company For IT Support Allows Your Team To Innovate & Focus
On Core Business Processes

In order to grow, small businesses need to innovate and broaden their
scope. Everyone must work together to come up with effective products and
creative marketing strategies that boost exposure. However, creativity and
innovation cannot thrive in offices where everyone spends most of their
time doing system maintenance and backups. Your team members should do the
jobs that they are paid to do, not take on the challenges of IT
technicians. One study shows that 30% of companies who hire IT support do
so clear out the schedule of their staff and focus on innovation.

The results are worth it: once your staff is no longer worried about
updating systems and fixing errors, they can develop applications, improve
customer relationship or develop better marketing plans and work on other
core business processes. Besides, trained IT staff will always do a better
job than in-house employers who have another specialisation and only have
basic technical skills. When a problem arises, tech support engineers will
be faster and more precise in fixing it and you will be able to allocate
your human resources where they should be allocated, not for “patching up”.

IT Security Compliance Is The Hallmark Of A Reliable Business

In the United States, 20% of businesses fail in their first year of
activity, usually because of cash flow issues. It’s not easy to be a small
start-up in an industry dominated by big players, so you need to make every
effort possible to convince clients that you are just as good, if not
better. The first way of doing this is by providing top quality products
and services and investing in customer support, but you shouldn’t neglect
the importance of complying with cyber security standards, especially if
you provide services through an online platform.

When choosing an online supplier, customers no longer look at cost and
experience alone. They also want to know if their personal data and credit
card numbers are protected. The experts at Evolvement point out that having
a security breach puts small businesses at risk of losing their clients and
causes irreparable harm to their reputation. Therefore, it’s crucial that
you prevent these problems from occurring in the first place and work with
a professional IT support company to keep your systems and firewalls up to
date. Your infrastructure will always be stable, your website will have
maximum uptime and you won’t risk losing clients because of a technical
issue.

You Benefit From Best-Of-Breed IT Solutions

Reliable IT support requires state of the art tech and complex
infrastructure, both of which being hard to access if you have budget and
space constraints. Unless you happen to receive a massive cash influx, it’s
impossible to afford the latest IT resources internally. Needless to say,
it takes years for support staff to get to a point where they can fix any
issue in due time and take on massive security challenges. By outsourcing
IT support and choosing managed services, you can enjoy the higher tech
capabilities of a large company without having to invest as much time and
money into developing them. You will have a team of professionals at your
side to pick up the call 24/7 and you will take advantage of modern
technologies at an affordable cost.
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