Today, most businesses face many challenges when it comes to delivering services or products to customers. Every process, from monitoring networks to internal survival is essential for survival. The challenge can however be greater for small businesses to manage on their own.
Typically, most small businesses operate on a limited budget and limited staff. These businesses lack the extra money and staff to help them in making sure that everything runs securely and efficiently. This, in turn, presents a serious risk for these businesses.
Today, certain security problems like cyber-attacks can take down the operations of a large business. So, where does this leave small businesses? Most of these businesses lack the necessary resources to protect them from such attacks. And that’s why they should consider managed IT services.
So, let’s look at the top 4 reasons why small businesses need managed IT services.
Security
Small businesses have a big challenge when it comes to data security since hackers know that small businesses don’t have strong security measures for their IT systems. Mostly, this happens because they don’t have proper knowledge about the possible security threats, they believe that the cost of data security is too high, even though it’s pretty easy to improve the security of your IT.
However, you should understand that internet bots don’t really care about the size of your business. These are automated programs for hacking going through a list. So, in the event your servers appear on that list, the damage caused can be very extensive.
Experts from Ottawa Managed IT Services Company, Symple say that having strong and up-to-date data security measures should be the top priority for small businesses. Thus, managed IT services can provide such security measures, unlike the in-house IT department. However, it’s also important to note that having managed IT service providers doesn’t mean you are completely out of the woods, since it’s a challenge to be up to date with the latest preventive measures.
Professional consultation
When a small business invests in IT, getting consultation from trusted and experienced experts in the IT field can help the business to thrive, unlike the businesses that fail to do so. Because of this reason, investing in managed IT services is essential for small businesses.
Most IT solutions for computer hardware, software, and other innovations, such as cloud storage VoIP phone systems can be hard to understand and manage—unless you are a certified IT expert. Because of their size, small businesses cannot employ certified IT experts because of the cost factor. However, having managed IT services provides a platform for professional consultation, which helps the business to grow.
Cost savings
The IT budget for small businesses consist of software and hardware costs, cloud solution costs, network costs, maintenance, and labor, among others. These are some of the most essential resources required to keep your network online and running efficiently. At times, small businesses tend to outsource each of these resources individually, and it can be very costly for these businesses.
However, with managed IT services, the IT experts can create a clear plan of the service requirements and costs for your small business. This plan is essential, as it gives you the opportunity to know the costs you need for your network. Thus, you will be able to budget accordingly every month.
Besides, most managed IT service providers have partnered with other IT vendors. That means you can get most of these resources at a cheaper rate. Eventually, you’ll realize that you’ve saved a lot of money through this process.
Improve productivity and efficiency
Two things affect the productivity and efficiency of a small business—using the right technology, and technology that functions properly. And, as we’ve highlighted earlier, experts in managed IT services can help you in creating the best plan for your service requirements, which can assist you to reduce costs for your business. In addition to this, managed IT services can make it possible for your small business to access certain resources that you couldn’t access previously.
However, this brings a major challenge for most small businesses—maintenance. While technology plays a major role in boosting the productivity of a small business, it can also cause a significant drop in productivity because of recurring downtimes. Unexpected server crashes, a problem with the office router, or your systems going offline can affect your business efficiency. With this, you will need an IT team to help in troubleshooting and solving these issues whenever they occur.
Now, this is where your business will need managed IT services. Other than ensuring that your IT systems are functioning properly, your managed IT service providers will also help to address these issues professionally. With this, your business is less likely to experience downtime.
However, when choosing a managed IT service provider, ensure that you choose a company with IT technicians that are 24/7 available to help in solving any issues with your system. So, you should enquire whether the company has possible wait time for their clients, as this can cause delays to your problems being solved.