The Critical Role of IT Support for Small Businesses
Why outsource your IT support?
Reduce your costs
The average annual salary of an in-house IT manager can be anywhere between £30-60k per year. In addition, there are the costs associated with recruitment, company benefits, and ongoing training to keep their skills up to date. For many smaller businesses, an in-house IT specialist is a luxury that can’t be afforded. However, this often means that businesses are using outdated systems and suffering from periods of downtime, leaving employees spending their time trying to fix problems they don’t understand rather than getting on with their work. The costs involved with this loss of productivity can soon add up. By outsourcing your IT services to an external team, you can save money by paying only for what you need, with all your costs rolled into one fixed monthly payment that easily fits into your budget.
Get support as and when you need it
You might not be able to justify having enough work to hire an in-house IT professional, as your business IT needs peak and trough. You may be a small company and simply does not have enough space for another staff member. Even if you can’t justify a full-time, in-house IT manager, your IT systems are still business critical. If something goes wrong or you want to modernise your operations, you’ll need someone who can support you when you need it. When you have outsourced IT support, you can rest assured that your IT systems are always being monitored to prevent issues. And, if you do have any problems, you have access to a team of experts whenever you need them without having to hire anyone.
Make sure you have the right skills for the job
It is difficult to hire for an IT role, especially when the market is more competitive than ever before. Recruitment is a challenging, time-consuming, and expensive process at the best of times, and it can be a costly mistake for your business if you employ the wrong person. If you don’t have a technical background, how do you know which candidate has the right skill set for your business? Outsourcing your IT support takes away the time and stress of recruiting for an in-house role. With an expert team on hand throughout the week, you can rest assured that you will always have access to employees with a full range of technical skills and the latest industry qualifications.
Focus on running your business
If you and your employees are constantly tackling IT issues and battling against outdated technology, it does not leave much time for focusing on work. For business leaders, downtime can be a huge cost and you should be spending time on what matters, such as your staff, costs, and meeting the needs of your customers. Using outsourced IT support will give you complete peace of mind, take the stress out of managing your technology needs and allow you to focus on running your business.
Increase employee productivity
Technical issues, whenever they occur or however severe they are, can lead to disruption, time-wasting, and economic loss. Even if you do not have any pressing technical issues, you might be spending a lot of time out of your day doing recurring tasks or going through endless email threads to get projects done. Modern IT support has surpassed the traditional break/fix model. Nowadays, a great service provider is proactive, preventing issues from occurring wherever possible and recommending solutions that can help you be more productive, such as automating recurring tasks and embracing collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams.
Take advantage of the latest technology
The IT landscape is constantly changing and there are new advances in technology services and solutions all the time. It can be hard to keep up with all the latest updates, products, and applications available and know whether they would suit your business. When you outsource to a Managed Service Provider, business technology is their specialism. You can be confident that they will have access to all the latest developments and training regarding fresh solutions, so they can give you informed advice on the technologies you should be embracing for your business to succeed.
Leadership and Strategy
Everyday issues and critical failures are the first things that come to mind when you think about what you might need an IT support provider for. However, IT needs a long-term strategy it is not just about fixing obvious problems, it’s about using technology to your advantage and making your work life easier. Plus, there are plenty of scenarios you should be planning for, such as hybrid working, cyber security, communications systems, and potential disasters. With a Managed Service Provider like FOS.net, your options are not limited to reactive IT support. In addition to support and consultancy services, you can benefit from professional services and project management, cyber security, communications, and business intelligence, all managed end-to-end.
If you need an IT department but find that you do not have the finances to sustain one, an outsourced IT company can be your next best choice.
FOS.net has professionals who have many years of experience under their belts. They are also up to date with the latest technologies that can help increase the quality of your communications, products, and services.
Call us today and let us help you find the best IT solutions for your business.