Should You Consider Outsourced IT Support for Your Small Businesses?

Generally speaking, the smaller the business, the tighter the budget. In a small business environment, employees must be versatile and capable of handling any task assigned to them, regardless of whether it falls under their job description. Unfortunately, when it comes to maintaining cybersecurity and infrastructure, that doesn’t always work out so well. 

As the saying goes, when you’re a jack of all trades, you’re a master of none. And nowadays, you need masters to protect and support your day-to-day operations and help you grow your business.

5 Problems With Non-IT Personnel Managing Your IT

When you’re a small business, what’s an entire department for a larger company is often reduced to just one or two people. So those one or two people are probably already wearing a few different hats. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a few tech-savvy folks on your team, any time spent troubleshooting your network or researching software — let alone fixing the printer — can be a significant productivity loss for that entire area of your business. 

And even if your tech-savvy in-house staff can solve the problem, they probably don’t do it as quickly as a trained IT professional would, and they might not understand how to prevent problems from recurring. And they definitely don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to cybersecurity. 

The results? Here are just a few of the most problematic: 

1. Low efficiency at an inflated cost

2. Persistent problems that never get fully resolved

3. Frequent disruptions to productivity

4. Missed opportunities to grow your business or become more efficient

5. Rampant cybersecurity risks

So…why not just hire one IT person and call it good? 

For many years, that was often seen as an ideal solution for SMBs that could afford to add a single position. But what happens when your sole IT person is on vacation and you have a serious disruption? What happens when that IT person is good with servers but doesn’t have the bandwidth to keep on top of evolving cyberattacks? And what happens when your sole IT person keeps getting poached by other larger companies? Maybe you already know the answer all too well.

5 Reasons Small and Medium Businesses Should Outsource IT

Fifteen years ago, outsourcing your IT sometimes meant you might need to sacrifice some responsiveness and personalized service. But now, most IT issues can be resolved remotely. That means managed IT providers could move out of a break/fix model — constantly responding to emergencies — into a more proactive model personalized to your business. For example, at Marco, we now have dedicated technical account managers (TAMs) for all of our managed IT clients. 

The result? Outsourcing your IT support to a managed service provider (MSP) is the most cost-effective way for SMBs to access enterprise-level IT capabilities and expertise. And the other benefits are pretty hard to pass up.

1. 24/7 Monitoring and Support 

If an IT crisis is not dealt with promptly, it can temporarily shut down an entire department — or your entire business. Every hour lost is another hour of profit lost. For small businesses, this downtime can be the difference between being in the black or in the red. During a crisis, you don't want to be dependent on an untrained employee reading through a manual.

When a crisis or other routine issues occur, help desk support is available immediately. This prompt response provides minimal downtime, which means you won't be losing hours—or money—on a solvable problem.

2. Better Strategic Planning

Every small business has different needs. Your managed IT provider can help you determine your specific needs and create a plan to implement technology that addresses them. When you outsource IT support, a managed IT provider will also consider your future IT needs to ensure your technology keeps up with your growth.

3. Experience Fewer Disruptions

An IT department that solves problems quickly is great. But, a managed IT provider will have the bandwidth to get to the root cause of an issue and prevent it from happening again. And that’s even better. 

4. A Sneak Peek Into Other Businesses 

An internal team will benefit from an insider’s knowledge of how your company works on a daily basis and what the culture really is. However, an outsider’s perspective can also be very valuable. A managed IT provider will also bring a wealth of knowledge about the tools similar businesses are using and what upgrades would bring the most ROI, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. 

5. Access World-Class Cybersecurity 

Cybersecurity is rapidly becoming a specialized skill. And just when you think you’ve mastered it, cybercriminals change their tactics. With managed IT, you get access to some of the top cybersecurity minds in the country at an affordable price, and you aren’t constantly struggling to retain them. 

You can also transform what is perhaps your business’s single greatest liability (a severe cyberattack) into a predictable expense. 

So…Can You Afford Managed IT Services? 

Considering that managed IT services can save you up to 10% on your infrastructure, and managed IT providers can give you insider pricing on many common business software products, it’s more affordable than a lot of people think. 

That said, it’s a good idea to get a little nosy about the pricing models providers use. Some providers make more money when you experience more emergencies and disruptions, and some make more when they prevent them. The pricing model your provider uses should tell you almost everything you need to know about the provider. At Marco, we price by user, which means we scale up or down along with you, and we’re incentivized to help you prevent problems and grow. 

Click the link below to get a quick budgetary quote!