Our “White Paper” series is all about the business of IT. Topics like password security, IT management, and technology purchases are all covered in our informative series aimed to help small businesses achieve their technology goals.
The IT needs of a small business can be complex, and it can be difficult (both practically and financially) for small businesses to internally house an IT department that can meet all of them. IT companies can provide your business with a team of experts specifically matched to the needs of your business. A good IT firm will address your business’s challenges with individual solutions based on decades of experience – not a one-size-fits-all plan.
Components of IT Outsourcing
In this “Outsourcing series”, we explore the four main benefits of outsourcing IT services to a third party. This includes staffing, talent management, available servicesand operational management. Using an outside firm gives your business access to a wide range of skills, experts, and services that would otherwise be expensive to acquire.
The greatest benefit to outsourcing is access to a larger IT department than you could afford to hire. Hiring an outside firm gives you access to a wider range of IT services than you could put together with a small internal IT department.
The day-to-day functions of every business (large and small) are becoming increasingly technology-reliant, which puts more pressure on your IT infrastructure and your IT staff. An outside IT firm has the organizational structure already in place to hold the IT team accountable for the tasks that your business needs to run and keep your technology in line with your business objectives.
Industry Best Practices
The increased focus on technology also puts IT at the center of most small businesses’ strategic planning and budgeting discussions. By outsourcing your IT to impartial experts, these discussions will include recommendations influenced by industry best practices and cutting-edge technology. This better prepares your company to meet current needs and plan for the future. As impartial outsiders, we can also provide service and trend analysis for your business – the kind of review and long-term thinking often pushed aside to manage daily business in a small company.
Proactive Response
An experienced IT firm has the ability to respond to your IT challenges and to be proactive about them in a way that a small team could not. Firms can provide 24/7 monitoring, monthly system checks and maintenance, and backup checks. They can also oversee purchase and asset management, removing one more administrative responsibility from your to-do list.
Early Intervention
Hiring an outside firm means that problems are caught early before an issue interrupts your system and costs your company time and revenue. If a problem should arise, you contact your IT firm for solutions. Their team manages and resolves the problem.
Another benefit of outsourcing your IT needs is that as your company grows, you can simply access additional services from your IT firm. Select a firm that also provides software services including custom database builds, end-user software, and web technology. Software can be designed to coordinate accounting and CRM systems as well as integrate all your company’s systems.
The IT needs of today’s companies are not the needs of the past – IT systems are layered and complex and take experience and good management to be well-constructed and well-maintained. Turning the IT reins over to an outside firm not only allows you that construction and maintenance, it allows your company access to the kind of IT support it would take numerous internal employees to provide.