Setting up a new activity can result in a great deal of effort and unnecessary stress. That’s why you should know when it’s time to ask for expert help. Learning how to delegate is a vital skill and mindset shift that all successful business owners need to make.
And unless you are running an IT based business, delegating your IT support is probably very near the top of the list of things you shouldn’t be doing yourself. Even if you are a techy who works in the IT field, or knows a lot about IT, it’s not always a great idea to DIY it.
But if, like most of our clients, you don’t know much about IT and all the problems that come with it – like the need for effective cyber security – managed IT support is vital.
There are a lot of advantages that come with outsourcing your IT needs.
For starters, it can save you lots of money. But this is not the only reason why you should consider managed IT as a valuable addition to your business plan.
But what exactly is managed IT Support? And why do you need it?
The Types Of IT Support…
You’ve just launched a new business. Congratulations! All your hopes and dreams for a better future are about to come true.
Unless you are Fred Flinstone reading our blog from a past (and entirely fictional!) time, you’re already well aware that modern business requires tech.
Whether it’s on a small or massive scale, your business has tech of some description.
You probably have a PC, a laptop, a smartphone – and so do your employees. You likely all keep up with your emails on your phone, need to access documents and download files, or login to various systems and portals.
Multiple devices come with multiple risks and multiple necessities, but they’re an unavoidable necessity in modern life.
Which means the only thing more essential than the tech in your business, is effective IT support to ensure it all runs right and does what you need it to do.
You might have thought about hiring an in-house IT support specialist, deeming it the most natural way to ensure business stability. But it’s not always the best possible solution.
Businesses tend to evolve, based on the world situation and other variabilities. For example, right at the beginning of 2020, many thought they had a system that worked perfectly, we were hit by a pandemic which forced us to reconsider our working modalities in a rather profound manner.
Working from home was one of the biggest challenges faced by most business. This was not only from the mere logistic point of view – ensuring employees wore pants to meetings was really problematic – it also held major cybersecurity risks that many businesses weren’t prepared to face.
Because nobody had ever expected something like this to happen.
Managing remote – and secure – connections, as well as educating your employees on best practices is an incredibly hard job. Seeking help from an expert in setting up the best possible systems and training your team in how to effectively use them is a hell of a lot easier than trying to puzzle it out for yourself.
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In-House Managed IT Support…
When setting up a new business, you set up different departments for each of your needs. You will have an accountant to handle your financial needs, a marketing executive to promote your products and services, and an IT expert to handle all your technical issues.
Hiring an in-house member of staff certainly has its advantages. You have access to an IT guy/gal on a daily basis and they’re bound to you through a contract.
An in-house employee will get to know all of your business’ devices and software like the back of their hand. They know your other employees and their dumbest habits, so they know how to prevent them from damaging your business.
They will probably also fit perfectly into your company culture and are a valuable addition. They have quicker access to problems as they’re on-site (at least between the hours of 9 and 5).
That being said, an in-house employee comes with a lot of additional costs, When hiring a new employee you’re not just paying for their services, you’re also spending a lot in taxation, holidays, sick days, pension… And in the long run it might not be worth it for you as a company.
Plus,in-house IT Specialists are better at maintaining a certain level of order than they are at proactively reacting to emergency situations.
You also need to consider how much you can offer as salary. To hire someone of exceptional calibre, as a full-time employee, is extremely expensive. You will almost always find that you can access far greater talent when you outsource your IT support, because you’re only paying for the time they spend working on issues.
Add to this that, unless your business presents a considerable challenge, you’ll likely struggle to get a top IT specialist on staff. Attracting great talent means presenting them with a challenge. And the reality of a full-time in-house IT support role is that a lot of time will be spent on routine, humdrum tasks, or with nothing of substance to do at all.
Ad Hoc Access To An IT Specialist…
Quite the opposite of an in-house IT Specialist, Ad Hoc services are, quite literally, “Pay as you use” IT Services.
It looks like the perfect solution if you are just getting started, have a limited budget and you can’t afford to have a clear plan in place for all your needs, and everything under control.
You decide to just hire a team of experts to fix a problem when and if it occurs.
Seems perfect, now, doesn’t it?
Well, yes, in a perfectly functioning world where nothing unexpected happens, cyber security isn’t a vital and ongoing concern, and natural disasters that could potentially affect your business don’t happen, this could be an excellent situation.
Ad Hoc services are free of contracts, they come with all the perks of outsourced services and you get to pick the best experts to suit your needs or the emergency at hand.
But they are also far more expensive than continuous outsourced IT Support. You have no pre-existing arrangement in place to guarantee support. Which means there is no obligation to help you out of hours. If you do need them outside the usual hours, on very short notice, or over the holidays, you’re going to pay exorbitant prices.
And quite reasonably, we dare say.
After the problem you have called the experts for is solved, they are gone and so it’s all of your IT Support.
You’ve paid a premium rate for short-term support, rather than a reasonable ongoing rate for constant support regardless of the day, time, season, or holiday in question.
What Is Managed IT Support, In A Nutshell?
But what is Managed IT? To put it simply, it means that your IT and technical needs are managed and supported by a third party – a team of highly skilled experts – on a monitored and previously agreed basis.
Unlike ad hoc or in-house IT support, Managed IT support is an ongoing collaboration between an organisation and an IT expert, on a contractual basis (called a Service Level Agreement, or SLA), which guarantees that your business gets the necessary support, exactly how and when it’s needed.
You don’t have to call for an emergency service, as everything is already being covered.
Why You Need Managed IT Support…
Having managed IT support is not a luxury: it’s a bare necessity for any business for countless reasons. For example…
It Saves Money…
oth in-house and ad hoc solutions can prove to be extremely expensive, even if you don’t think so. In the first instance you are not just paying for someone’s work or services,but also for their retirement plan and time off. You’re also paying for every moment of their time. All day, every day, rather than just the times you actually need them to do something.
Ad hoc support, on the other hand, may appear to be the solution to this, but not only can it have exorbitant costs, depending on the gravity of the problem you want to solve and when the issue arises due to emergency fees, you have no ongoing support at all.
Managed IT support is the best of both worlds. You only pay for what you need, but on a fixed monthly plan that ensures you are always covered. If you need help it’s a call away, regardless of the time or date, at no extra cost. This avoids any unpleasant surprise when it comes to paying the bills and ensures you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay for support in case an emergency occurs.
Each of the operations you will need and its subsequent costs are regulated through your Service Level Agreement.
You Get The Best Experts…
Outsourcing your IT Support is convenient in almost every possible way. You can also choose from a more accessible pool of highly skilled experts.
In-house experts are expensive and, even if they’re a perfect fit in the company, might not be the best possible choice for your business’ needs. They are only one person, and are not likely to be highly skilled in every possible issue you might face.
Working with a team of experts gives you access to the expertise of a group, without the cost of hiring a whole in-house team.
Unless you are the CEO of a big company which invests a considerable amount of money in research, development and innovation, you won’t be seeing top candidates working for you any time soon.
Working permanently for a small company isn’t rewarding, nor it is challenging and not many specialists would be thrilled at this perspective.
Your Business Continuity Is Secured…
One of the first things to do when you start a new business is to ensure that your business continuity isn’t impacted by incidents, attacks or natural disasters.
If you have an established business but still don’t have a continuity plan in place, it’s vital that you create one before a crisis occurs.
This is one reason ad hoc support isn’t a great idea; it’s a reactive solution, not a proactive one.
Managed IT support is the best solution to this problem. Your support team will create and implement a plan and are readily available 24/7.
It’s The Best Solution For Working From Home…
One of the major advantages of outsourcing your IT Support is that you don’t need to invest in constant updates to software, infrastructure, and education: it’s not your job to do so.
When the necessity of working remotely arose, it represented a major security challenge for many businesses and, truth be told, nobody was truly prepared for the transition. But now an increasing number of companies – such as Microsoft, Google and Facebook – have decided to permanently shift to remote working.
Hybrid working environments – in which some staff work remotely, while others are in the office, or everyone works remotely some of the time – are the new norm.
YourManaged IT support team will be far more capable of handling the needs of remote workers and protecting them from a cyber security standpoint. One of the main advantages of hiring an in-house IT specialist is having them readily available in their office. With working from the office being less necessary, you need someone capable of handling things remotely as well as in person.
When we’re working with customers to help them fix issues, we frequently do so remotely. We get everyone setup so that tech support can easily gain remote – and secure! – access to your systems, and your team’s devices (wherever they happen to be).
It’s More Versatile…
A Managed IT support solution isn’t a one man band. It involves many specialists, with different specialisations, making it the best solution to a great number of problems.
But it’s also far more versatile because Managed Service Providers must be up to date with the latest software, threats, issues, and techniques, guaranteeing to help your business with things your in-house team might have overlooked.
It’s More Reliable…
Having a team at your disposal, who already know your business, systems, and requirements, and who are available 24/7 with just a phone call is priceless.
With the best will in the world you can’t rely on a single person to be ready at the drop of a hat to rush into the office out of hours. You can’t guarantee you’ll be able to find an ad hoc service in the event of an emergency who have availability to help/
If you are a victim of ransomware, the last thing you want to spend time doing is scrolling through IT Companies’ reviews to find which one is the best fit for your business. Then calling around until you find one with time to help.
Having a service level agreement with a company you know and trust helps you more than you think in having reliable support, 24/7.
You Can Focus On Other Areas Of Your Business…
When you have fixed, manageable costs associated with your technical support, you have the space to focus resources on other areas of your business. This might mean investing in a new marketing campaign, or expanding into a new venture.
You have confidence that your current business systems and processes are secure, sustainable, and safe in the event of something going wrong. That surety allows you to build on what you have, growing and improving in ways that are very difficult when you’re not sure the foundation is solid.
You Can Be Safer…
Your tech support provider can give you a higher level of security for various reasons. Your team will have current knowledge on the latest threats and issues facing your business on a technological level.
This gives you a higher level of protection against the latest cybersecurity threats, as well as glitches and issues caused by necessary updates to your system.
But Is It Right For You?
If you’re wondering if Managed IT Support is a good fit for you and your business, we’d be happy to discuss it. You can give us a call for a chat, or book a free (and zero obligation) audit of your business to find out how we can support you in your technical needs.
