IT Has Changed and Your Business Can’t Afford to Lag Behind

IT support is crucial to the success of any company in today’s fast-paced technology-focused business environment. Some organizations have an internal IT administrator, while others choose to rely on outsourced resources. Both of these are perfectly acceptable responses to the problem at hand, which is guaranteeing you have access to IT resources to keep your business running effectively.

Let’s Provide Some Context

Businesses using technology have historically had a couple of different options available to them. They could hire someone to handle their technology maintenance and management, they could wait until the technology breaks before taking any action, or they could rely on their current resources to address issues as they pop up. Let’s look at each of them and why they all contribute to the need for more affordable outsourced IT support.

Internal IT Resources

Many businesses invest in internal IT resources, like internal technicians who can handle any and all issues related to technology. This is a great investment for businesses that can afford to add another salary to the books, as the internal resource will generally always be there to help. The average IT technician makes over $50,000 per year, but those with more specialized skill sets or certifications could demand a much higher rate of compensation. Suffice it to say, many organizations cannot afford this option, and even then, only one individual managing an entire infrastructure can be difficult at best.

Break-Fix Technology Maintenance

Believe it or not, this was the preferred way of handling technology maintenance for quite some time. Technology eventually breaks down, and when it does, it needs to be repaired. Rather than take proactive measures and steps to keep breakdowns from happening, it was seen as more cost-effective to simply address problems when they occur. However, the return on investment here just doesn’t add up, as broken technology leads to other hidden costs, like downtime. Remember that any time your business isn’t operating as intended can be considered downtime, and as such, quite costly to your bottom line.

Relying on Employee Troubleshooting

This is a potentially troublesome practice, as it puts your staff—almost certainly untrained in how to handle IT challenges—in charge of their own problems, which could lead to downtime, frustration, or worse. This set of businesses is more likely than others to experience downtime and other technology problems that could get in the way of operations.

Managed IT Solutions are Just Plain Better

Let’s face it: managed IT services are just a better solution for most businesses. 

Managed IT is a model that can effectively replace an in-house IT infrastructure, or work to supplement current resources, in an effort to keep IT solutions as effective as possible. This is made possible through remote monitoring and management tools that can assist with solving issues if and when they occur, thus eliminating the downtime associated with problems while you wait for someone to address them.

Proactive IT solutions are great for businesses that want to get the most value out of their IT assets. Here are some ways your organization benefits from managed IT:

• Expert technicians: You’ll get the same level of support and skill from a managed IT vendor, but for a fraction of the cost. You’ll work with a team of trained and trusted technicians who know how to help your business get value out of its technology.
• Budgetable monthly payments: You know exactly what your IT help will cost you. No surprise fees or unexpected costs here.
• Vendor management: Managing vendors can be exhausting, but with the help of an outsourced team, you won’t have to worry about all that. A managed IT team can be your single point of contact for all of your vendor needs.
• Backup and disaster recovery (BDR): BDR gives businesses the ability to bounce back from any horrible situation with confidence that their infrastructure is redundant and protected.
• Hardware support: If our technicians can’t resolve the problem remotely, you can count on dedicated hardware support as quickly as possible according to our service level agreement.

In short, managed IT is designed to make technology maintenance and management easier, more accessible, and more affordable for businesses. You can count on us to solve your technology challenges. To learn more, call us today at (217) 428-6449.