What Are Outsourced IT Support Services?
Almost every business uses technology to compete in our increasingly-connected world. Although technology opens up new possibilities and increases productivity, anybody who has used it knows that unexpected problems often arise. That’s when the support provided by in-house or outsourced IT support services can be absolutely vital to your business’ successful operation.
As you develop a plan to tackle your business’ own IT needs, you may be wondering about the difference between in-house and outsourced IT services. Our guide will provide you with more information about outsourced services and the advantages they offer so that you can make the right decision.
What Are Outsourced IT Support Services?
Methods to Meet Your Business’ Technology Demands
By and large, handling your business IT needs involves using one of two different methods. You may decide to staff your own IT team to handle any technical issues that arise with your business’ own resources. This allows you to have full control over the IT solutions that your business receives, but also adds to the demands that your business faces by adding a whole additional team to the resources you need to maintain.
An alternative solution is provided by third-party companies that offer outsourced IT support services. These third-party companies can provide your business with high-quality, 24/7 support that uses the latest tools of the industry to get you the solutions that you need. This is often seen as a more efficient way of meeting your business’ IT needs, since you won’t have to devote energy and resources towards managing your own IT department.
Disadvantages of In-House Support
Traditionally, businesses have relied on their own IT support teams to handle all of the issues related to technology. However, this can come with a number of downsides. Perhaps most obvious from a business perspective, one disadvantage is that you will have to account for IT needs in your business’ budget. Training, wages, and equipment for your IT staff add a number of expenses to your spending.
There are some other disadvantages to handling your own IT support in-house that may not be as readily apparent. For example, you might not have the support you need when you need it if your business doesn’t have the resources to maintain 24/7 IT support. You’ll also need to focus on ensuring that your IT department is using the latest technology and practices, diverting the attention you could be focusing on your business itself.
Solutions that Managed Services Provide
As you can see, managing your own IT support involves a lot of work. That provides an extra burden on top of everything you already need to do in the day-to-day operation of your business. Here are some of the ways that outsourced IT support can benefit your business.
Scalable Resources
The demands placed on your business often fluctuate over time. Depending on the exact nature of your industry, this can be for a variety of reasons. For example, some businesses rely on the increased demand of a busy holiday period, while others may see an increase in business during certain seasons. As the demands placed on your business change, your needs for IT support will also increase or decrease accordingly.
Having managed or co-managed IT services on your side helps give your business the flexibility it needs to change to match these shifting demands. You won’t have to worry about being understaffed to tackle issues or being overstaffed without enough work to justify paying the number of professionals you have on the team. Outsourced, managed services provide exactly the right number of technicians to match your business’s current needs so that you’re never wasting resources.
Increased Productivity
Along with eliminating waste, you might otherwise have from your IT department managed services also help the rest of your team to perform productively. Technology impacts just about every aspect of the way that you handle business. That means when there’s an issue, it prevents members of your team from doing what they do best. This loss of productivity can have a big impact on your bottom line, damaging you financially.
Having technology solutions on hand when you need them is vital in today’s fast-paced business environment. Using managed support services ensures that you’ll always have professional help on hand to promptly address any technology concerns you or your staff may have. That speeds up the process of getting things back to normal working order, allowing your team to focus on doing their job instead of having to try to troubleshoot their technology.
More Cost-Effective
Any business owner’s first concern is the financial well-being of their business. You may think that you’re saving money by not hiring an outside firm to handle your IT needs. After all, one less item on your list of expenses is good for your bottom line, right? While this seems intuitive enough, the truth is that you’re most likely able to use your financial resources more effectively if you use managed IT support instead of relying on your in-house team.
When you use managed IT services, you’ll pay one predictable flat rate for your IT solutions. Compare this to the unpredictable and ever-changing expenses associated with managing your own IT department, where you’ll have to cover training, replacing, and maintaining the best resources for your professionals. The predictable expense of having a third-party IT support team on your side is another advantage for your business.
Better Customer Experience
In our fast-paced business world, customers expect an experience that is convenient and easily accessible. Even a momentary lapse in the services that you provide can create a frustrating situation for your customers. This may lead them to seeking out a competitor for their needs instead, hurting your business’ ability to turn a profit and grow your customer base.
Avoid these negative customer experiences by having cohesive IT solutions on call when you need them. That helps you to avoid any lengthy outages or downtime for the service or product you provide. Customers will get a predictable, comfortable experience without any unexpected obstacles getting in their way of getting the best possible experience that your company can provide.
Increased Level of Security
These days, it seems like barely a week goes by without some high-profile cyberattack making headlines around the world. Ransomware and other types of malware attacks cost businesses in every sector of the economy millions of dollars every year. If you aren’t using the latest cybersecurity tools and practices, your business may be at risk.
Protect your business’ critical data by hiring an IT firm that will put in place the highest degree of protection possible. They’ll work with the rest of your organization to educate and inform people of the safest practices when using technology. They’ll also have access to the most powerful anti-malware tools available to keep your business protected, giving your customers the assurance that any personal information they trust you with is kept secure.
Support at All Hours
There’s no telling when an issue with your technology may arise. While problems may crop up more frequently during busy times when the demands placed on your business are at their highest, they may also occur in the middle of the night when your business is running at minimal staffing. Maintaining your own IT team that can be on hand every day at all hours is an expense that many businesses cannot afford.
Fortunately, outsourced IT support services provide a more cost-effective way of meeting your business’ IT demands whenever they may arise. Find a third-party firm that can offer 24/7 support 365 days out of the year. That sort of reliable sort will increase the peace of mind you feel as a business owner, knowing that solutions are always within reach when you need them most so that your business experiences minimal downtime.
Expertise at Your Command
Technology is a field that is constantly changing as new innovations push the boundaries on what is possible to achieve. Staying up-to-date and keeping your business on the cutting edge of all of these new innovations can seem like a daunting prospect. Add that to the already demanding workload of keeping your business at the forefront of your specific field and the task can seem nearly impossible.
Give yourself one less thing to worry about as a business owner by hiring a professional IT firm to handle your tech needs. With a trustworthy team on your side, you’ll have access to the latest tools and technology that your business needs to run effectively. They’ll stay on top of what’s new in the IT world so that you can focus on what your business specializes in instead.
Wondering if outsourced IT solutions are right for your business? A technology strategy session with a member of our team of IT experts can give you more insight into the advantages working with our companies provide. We’ll show you all the ways that we can transform IT support from being an annoying expense into an asset that helps your company thrive.
