by Felicien | Sep 9, 2019 | Education
Do You Know the 4 Ways IT Outsourcing Improves Business Success?
Many small and mid-sized companies underestimate the drawbacks of not having top-tier IT professionals in place. These 4 benefits highlight the need for change.
Are a business decision-maker wondering about when the best time to outsource your IT needs? It was yesterday, and you are already late to enjoy the benefits of working with a third-party tech outfit that specializes in IT managed services.
It’s not uncommon for small and mid-sized companies to operate under the assumption that modest IT needs do not warrant creating a budget line-item on their behalf. Some designate an in-house person with seemingly good computer skills to run virus scans and update applications. Other outfits hire a single technology person to handle the responsibility of overseeing their entire network. Both of these policies are inherently flawed for a variety of reasons. After reviewing the following 4 ways IT outsourcing helps your business, you may gain clarity as to why working with a third-party expert is in your best interest.
1: Removes Peripheral Distractions from Profitable Goal Achievement
As upstart organizations begin to grow into mid-level outfits, the visionaries that propelled their success forward are increasingly beset by issues that detract from primary goals. Budget management, contract negotiations, and supply chains are top-tier items that further a company’s profit-enhancing goals. Tackling these items tends to be a good use of time and energy. If industry leaders are also tasked with maintaining and repairing the tools of the trade, essential issues cannot enjoy the laser focus they deserve.
When an organization shuffles computer and network duties to an employee or even a designated in-house tech person, network problems become part of routine oversight. An experienced third-party managed services provider takes proactive measures to maintain and repair your devices and network without you lifting a finger. Your vision drives the organization. That’s why it’s crucial to all of the key stakeholders involved that IT distractions are a non-factor.
2: Improves Network Efficiency and Productivity
Imagine traveling the road of handing off-network duties to an untrained employee or a designated tech person. Now imagine they call in sick during a critical business productivity cycle. Imagine further, they take a two-week vacation. What happens when your network starts to suffer glitches or goes dark altogether? The answer is simple: You lose revenue.
The reality of owning or operating a business in the technology age is that networks never sleep, they don’t call in sick, and they don’t go on vacation. Maximum productivity and efficiency require organizations to have 24-7 managed IT services in place. When you negotiate an ongoing services agreement with an experienced IT contractor, they can conduct remote updates, scans, and effect problem solving anytime your network runs amok. But that will happen a lot less frequently because high-level maintenance is usually part of the outsourcing package. Experienced IT experts deliver the laser focus to systems that help make your organization successful.
3: Reduces Risk of Cyber Threats and Financial Losses
According to reports, more than 317 million pieces of malware were created in 2018 alone. To put that staggering number into perspective, nearly 100 infectious threats were developed daily. Now add that business risk to the fact that companies suffered financial losses above $600 billion in 2018 and that figure upticked by $100 billion from 2014.
Compounding the genuine risk of doing business with technology is that too many small and mid-sized organizations incorrectly assume that cybersecurity breaches are almost exclusively targeted at large corporations with vast assets. The common misconception may be attributed to heavy media coverage of the massive violations suffered by household-name corporations.
While billion-dollar cybertheft makes splashy headlines, the overwhelming majority of cybersecurity thieves targets small and mid-sized outfits. Hackers, who may be sitting in an internet café halfway around the world, search for subpar network defenses and attack. In plain terms, you are the low-hanging fruit ripe for the plucking.
Outsourcing IT security to a third-party provider improves your cyber defenses from among the weakest links to the strong. Having the latest anti-virus, anti-malware, and next-generation cybersecurity protections in place quietly takes you off hacker hit lists. If these nefarious computer thieves are anything, it’s lazy. They’ll move on from your network and attack someone less secure.
4: Keeps Technology on Cutting Edge
An effective business network enhances employee engagement and productivity. If that sounds like a pie-in-the-sky idea about working on computers, consider the alternative.
When emails are slow to download, or that tedious “buffering” icon spins around, employees tend to disengage from work-related tasks. One moment they are plugging along on your company desktop, the next they are checking text messages, and social media posts on their phone. When that happens, employee engagement and productivity is not diminished — it’s non-existent. It may be even more unsettling to know that experts say that it can take more than 20 minutes to get back on track after task disruption. Sadly, that unnecessary loss of productivity could have been avoided by outsourcing your IT needs to a professional.
by Felicien | Sep 6, 2019 | Education
Outsourcing Managed IT Services Improves Business Goal Achievement
Industry leaders require a laser-focus on profit-driving initiatives. Outsourcing an organization’s IT oversight saves time, money, and keeps everyone on task.
Whether you are a decision-maker for an upstart, mid-sized, or large corporation, outsourcing IT support, maintenance, and cybersecurity oversight can improve your operation. Managed services conducted by a third-party outfit with experience and expertise, brings high-level knowledge to the table that most business team members lack.
That’s generally because industry leaders staff their organizations with people who deliver profit-driving benefits. Managing an in-house IT team tends to distract from the goal-achievement tasks that keep an operation competitive and successful. Owners, CEOs, and other captains of industry with heightened IT needs would be wise to consider these five benefits of outsourcing.
1: Risk Reduction
Every business operates with a certain degree of risk. Those risks include fines for not meeting changing government regulations or falling behind competitors in cost-effective technology applications, among others. But perhaps the greatest threat that businesses of all sizes and every sector face are data theft and hacks. Without a doubt, less-than-adequate cybersecurity applications, protocols, and employee preventative training present the greatest threat to your organization.
2: Cost Consistent Budgeting
Entrepreneurs working hard to grow fledgling operations often have thin budgets. Every dollar counts and financial constraints generally do not allow for overspending. People in the private sector are fully aware they cannot manage a thriving enterprise using the faulty methods of the federal government. Either you have the revenue, or you don’t.
Managed IT service contracts allow decision-makers to allot a specific sum toward computer network oversight. There are no excessive payroll taxes, or unexpected overtime hours to strain the company’s resources. You write one monthly check and renegotiate when your managed services agreement expires.
3: Heightened Expertise
Perhaps the greatest difference between hiring an in-house IT team and outsourcing is the improved access to specialized knowledge. Some small and mid-sized operations think it’s savvy to hire a recent technical school graduate who has been immersed in the latest trends and technologies. That thinking seems reasonable on its face.
But the inherent flaw is that your outfit often requires that person, or team, to focus exclusively on your system and operations. What you lose over time is their immersion in trends, new applications, heightened cybersecurity threats, and other pertinent issues. A third-party managed service provider invests its time, resources, and people into cutting-edge training. When a managed services expert reviews your system, they bring the latest knowledge to every task. It’s simply not cost-effective to pay an IT team and then have them attend far-away seminars for weeks at a time.
4: Avoid Potential Downtime
After cyber-theft and hacks, downtime ranks among the most costly setback a company can experience. Imagine for a moment, you are looking out over your offices and employees are unable to work because the system is down. Now imagine you are paying them to not perform the necessary tasks to meet the business’ financial necessities.
When you outsource your IT needs to a third-party provider, it’s not uncommon for them to conduct due diligence, and preventive maintenance while your profit-driving staff is not on the clock. Smooth functioning networks are a type of hidden benefit that companies gain by having 24-7 IT services.
5: Improved Business Focus
Goal-oriented thought leaders enjoy improved success when they are able to focus on the things that make a company successful. Unless you are running a managed services outfit, computer issues, cybersecurity, and managing an IT team is not the best use of your time and brainpower.
Business visionaries achieve goals and enjoy the fruits of their innovation and labor by maintaining a laser-focus on industry trends, cost reduction, improved production, services, and staying ahead of their sector’s learning curve. It’s essential not to get bogged down in seemingly peripheral issues such as IT. Maximizing your skillset and outsourcing IT maintenance and oversight to a professional is the smart play.
Maximizing budgetary resources in a way that delivers the cutting-edge IT needs of today’s business community may be best left to professionals. When industry leaders take the time to do the math on best practices and profitable outcomes, third-party managed IT services remain a tried-and-true practice.
by Felicien | Sep 6, 2019 | Education
Every month, we host Microsoft Office and other technology training sessions. Our training sessions are completely free of charge and are available “on-demand”. Yes, you can tune-in whenever and wherever you like.
This month’s training session: 4 Ways To Use Microsoft Outlook Efficiently.
Our in-house Microsoft training specialist, Dawn, will guide you through some very important tips and tricks, such as:
Quick Parts
Templates
Automated Responses
Signatures
Tune into this month’s training by clicking here.
by Felicien | Sep 6, 2019 | Education
Every month, we host Microsoft Office and other technology training sessions. Our training sessions are completely free of charge and are available “on-demand”. Yes, you can tune-in whenever and wherever you like.
This month’s training session: 4 Ways To Use Microsoft Outlook Efficiently.
Our in-house Microsoft training specialist, Dawn, will guide you through some very important tips and tricks, such as:
Quick Parts
Templates
Automated Responses
Signatures
Tune into this month’s training by clicking here.
by Felicien | Sep 4, 2019 | Education
Here Are Top Questions to Ask Potential IT Service Providers
Discover the most important questions to ask about products, quality, expertise, competency, security and breadth when selecting an IT service provider.
Business leaders who want to cut operating expenses, improve efficiency and leverage the newest technologies turn to IT service providers. With the right technology partner, a business can see considerable gains in productivity, communication and data security.
Choosing the right IT service provider is an important decision. Here are a few of the questions to ask to help you make the right choice.
How Do We Know If an IT service provider is a Quality Business?
Determining if a business is run well and according to best practices is often a difficult assessment. Here are some things to look for:
Staff Size. If you have extensive needs, a large staff with specialized areas is usually better equipped to handle complex clients. However, a smaller company may get lost in the shuffle of a large organization only focused on the largest clients.
Technology Partners. IT service providers cannot do everything by themselves. That’s why the best rely on partnership agreements with high-quality tech companies to deliver specialized products and services. Ask for a list of their partners; strong connections to top companies is a good sign.
References. If you encounter an IT service provider that refuses to provide references, walk away. Ask for references from clients that are the same size, in the same industry or facing similar challenges as yours.
What Do We Ask to Determine if an IT service provider is Technically Competent?
You rely on your IT service provider to have the technical expertise to address your needs. How can you assess their technical abilities? Ask about the following:
Competencies. Certifications and preferred partner status are good indicators of technical quality and where the IT service provider’s strengths are. Especially in small shops, an emphasis and expertise in Linux may mean they’re not as strong at Windows. Use this space to ask about professional development for their staff and their training commitment.
Out of Scope. If you are paying a flat rate for managed services, you need to know what’s included and what isn’t. There are plenty of services that could be included in a package, including network security monitoring, ISP troubleshooting, software and firmware upgrades and patching, hardware installation and server upgrades. Be sure to shop around and know what’s covered by your plan and what is either an extra charge or not available.
Disaster Recovery. If a natural disaster or hacker attack hits your company, you need a business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place to reduce the damage and impact. It’s a common service for an IT service provider to offer. But you need to know what your IT service provider’s own disaster recovery plan is. If your IT service provider can’t be up and running quickly after a disaster, they are unlikely to be able to help you.
Compliance Coverage. More and more businesses face compliance challenges at the federal, state local and industrial level. Foreign entities are also demanding compliance with mandates, often concerning securing and using personal data. Ask your IT service provider about their experience with the compliance requirements, such as HIPAA, GDPR, PCI or FSMA, that your company has. Inquire about a service level agreement (SLA) that guarantees compliance with the mandates you are required to fulfill.
Automation. Advances in automation have taken the place of lots of manual tasks. Your IT service provider should be committed to using automation and AI solutions wherever possible, freeing their staff to work on higher-level projects. If they are not using the most cutting-edge technology, how will they advise you on how to leverage new solutions?
Can We Measure the Service Quality of an IT service provider?
Service is critical when choosing an IT service provider. You want a partner that’s attentive, responsive and effective when you have a critical need. Ask the following:
Internal vs. Outsourced. Your IT service provider will promise to deliver an extraordinary range of products and solutions. However, it’s important to know who will be doing the work on your account. Ask your potential IT service provider what work is done internally by their employees and what is outsourced (and why).
Strategy and Advising. Some IT service providers focus exclusively on selling you technology solutions. Others take a comprehensive approach. You want an IT service provider that can act as a virtual chief information officer, providing help with technology strategy, budgeting and growth that aligns with your present and future business priorities.
Scalability. As your company grows, you need solutions that can scale rapidly as new customers, data and technologies emerge. Be sure to ask how scalable an IT service provider’s solutions are, how they will help improve efficiency, how they will reduce costs and how they will reduce workload.
Thoughtful questions asked consistently of each potential IT service provider puts your business in the best position to select the right technology partner.
