Should you consider IT Support Outsourcing for your business? You may view IT as a necessary evil in your company, or you may view it as key component that delivers a consistently good return on investment. Either way it isn’t what you do.
IT is similar to other professional services. You could do your own accounts but you probably outsource this to an accountant, you know the penalties if you get it wrong. You probably don’t do your own legal work. Again, if it isn’t done correctly you could land in big trouble.
If you don’t get your IT right you might not be heading to court, or facing a fine (cyber security is a different story) but you could well be holding your business back.
What Are The Benefits Of Outsourcing IT Support?
If you’re a growing business and you spend time fixing your own IT issues, or you’re contemplating an in house IT team then it could be time to consider an outsourced it support service or IT company.
Outsourced IT support services deliver the following benefits.
Save Money and Control Costs
If reducing costs is one of your specific business requirements then outsourcing your IT support makes sense. It is clear to see the cost savings against employing an internal team. According to the IT Jobs Watch website the average IT Manager salary in the UK is £60,000, whilst an IT Technician would be looking for £28,000. For an effective in house team you’d need a Manager plus two technicians, so costs well in excess of £100k per annum.
However an in house support team is a luxury that many smaller businesses cannot afford. This frequently means that businesses are using outdated systems and experiencing periods of downtime. Employees spend time trying to fix problems they don’t understand rather than getting on with their work. The costs associated with this loss of productivity can quickly mount.
With outsourced IT support services you get a whole team’s worth of expertise at your fingertips – and the cost is consolidated into a fixed monthly payment. There are no surprises, and you can easily budget for scaling up or down. Outsourcing companies take into account your exact support requirements and put in place the right support for your business.
Benefit from Expert Advice
Your outsourced IT support provider is going to have a lot of knowledge that you can tap into. The staff members at a managed service provider (MSP) are technical experts, they live and breath IT and understand the benefits different solutions can bring to your business.
When you outsource your IT you get access to advice as part of the deal. A dedicated account manager will conduct regular reviews, talking to you about your business goals and plans for the future. They can then bring in technical experts to advise on the infrastructure, solutions, software and systems that can put your business exactly where it wants to be. Ahead of the competition.
Take Care of Cyber Security
Here’s another thing that you don’t want to have to be concerned about! Cyber security is a huge subject, there are numerous solutions and bits of technology that companies can access but you need to know what you are doing.
When you outsource to an IT company you should be looking for a company that understands security too. The provider should work with you to prevent data breaches, develop business continuity and disaster recovery solutions and reduce your business risk.
Gain Access To An IT Support Team With A Wide Range Of Skills And Expertise
With an experienced outsourced IT support team even small businesses get a whole company worth of technical experts. Pick any leading provider of outsourced IT and you have unlimited access to the type of external team that would be impossible for a small business to put together, at a much lower cost than you might expect.
Outsourced IT support providers can provide full access to the very best IT consultants and technical specialists with knowledge in technologies such as Microsoft 365, Cisco, Microsoft Azure and much more.
Compliment Your In House Team
If you have an in house IT function there are still ways you can benefit from outsourced IT support services.
An IT Manager or Director wants to deliver meaningful projects which drive the business forward. They don’t want to be dealing with niggly issues with your business email or numerous password resets. When they find themselves in this situation many businesses will outsource part of the IT function. Not only can an IT support company deliver faster solutions to those day to day issues, the IT Manager can still work closely with the outsourced provider on any of the companies more complex projects.
Alternatively the business may have a technician on site who deals with the day to day but needs help from an outsourced IT support company when it comes to upgrading IT. Outsourcing services could provide project management for infrastructure projects again providing the benefits of a flexible resource along with a wide breadth of knowledge.
Find Out More: How We Work With IT Managers & Teams
Focus on your Core Business
Trying to fix IT systems when you aren’t sure what you are doing is time consuming. It often falls on the business owner or a senior staff member. When you and your employees are constantly dealing with IT issues and fighting against outdated technology, you don’t have much time to focus on your work.
Downtime can be a huge cost for business leaders, and you should be spending your time on what matters, such as your staff, costs, and meeting the needs of your clients.
Fully managed, outsourced IT support will provide you with complete peace of mind, relieve the stress of managing your technology requirements, and allow you to focus on running your business.
Implement the Latest Technology
The IT landscape is constantly changing, and new technological services and solutions are being developed all the time.
It can be difficult to stay up to date with all of the new updates, products, services and applications available and determine whether they are appropriate for your business.
When you outsource to a Managed Service Provider, they specialise in business technology. You can be confident that they will have access to all of the most recent information and training on new solutions, allowing them to provide you with informed advice on the technologies that will provide the biggest benefits to your business.
Smaller businesses may be unable to afford the IT services used by larger, more established businesses. Having an MSP who can provide you with the kind of technological advancement that larger companies can afford will allow you to compete on a global scale with the “big guys.”
Prevent issues before they occur
Reactive IT is probably what you think of when it comes to IT Support. Something breaks down, you call IT and they fix it. If you only have this model of support (called break/fix) it is probably costing your company more time and money than is necessary.
By the time you realise there is a problem and contact support, your employees’ productivity has already suffered. You are likely to experience lengthy periods of downtime, which is both costly and inconvenient.
With outsourced IT support services, you can rest assured that your IT is constantly monitored. Your outsourced team will be working to identify and resolve potential issues before they impact your business. This means your business benefits from reduced downtime.
Improve employee productivity and efficiency
How many times have your staff been derailed from their jobs by niggling IT issues?
Outsourced IT Support could boost your internal productivity. Staff aren’t distracted by trying to solve IT issues. A quick call or email to their new provider and the problem is fixed allowing them to carry on with their job.
Another productivity hoover is slow machines. The regular maintenance and monitoring provided as part of fully managed IT support can help with this. You’ll also benefit from an IT replacement plan, which means older equipment is replaced before it starts to cause issues for users.
Peace of Mind
IT is fundamental to the way many businesses operate. Think about whether your business could run without IT, without email, without access to your accounting software, or your website. Whilst a reduction in cost is great the main benefit our clients highlight to us is peace of mind.
When you have an Award Winning outsourced company delivering support services to your business you know your IT systems are in safe hands.
With their IT outsourced to us our clients have one less headache, knowing they have a team and a service they can rely on.
How Much Does It Cost To Outsource IT Support?
Probably less than you think, and certainly a lot less than employing an internal IT department!
We’ve produced an entire article regarding the pricing of outsourcing your IT. Prices can range massively depending on the quality of the service and exactly what is provided.
Make sure you’re looking at reputable providers of outsourced IT support and that there are no hidden costs. For example we include antivirus and email filtering, others will charge for this on top of the support cost. Some providers include all onsite support, others charge for this.
What appears to be the cheapest price at first glance might not be so ensure you are comparing like for like when you look at quotations.
Find Out More: How Much Does IT Support Cost?
How We Can Help
Your IT Department are an Award Winning outsourced IT Support and Managed Service Provider. We’ve been operating for well over a decade and take care of IT for more than 120 businesses. Our clients include law firms, accountants, construction firms, manufacturers and recruitment companies. If your business uses IT we can support you!
Based close to the M1 on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border we are ideally placed to provide IT Support Nottingham, IT Support Leicester, and IT Services to business across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
If you’d like to speak to us about the kind of support services we provide we have a number of ways you can contact us;
Book an initial call in our online calendar:
Fill in a contact form: www.your-itdepartment.co.uk/contact/
Or simply pick up the phone and call our friendly team on 0115 8220200.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
