5 Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Outsource IT

IT outsourcing is an ever-increasing practice within the professional services sector. If your business is spending too many resources on managing computers, email accounts, servers, printers, and telephones, it is time to consider getting external help from the professionals.

Since managing an IT department can be a daunting task, a Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) can relieve your business from the stressful experience of dealing with technology problems.

The practice of outsourcing allows small business owners to focus on their core business areas instead of burning their valuable resources with resolving IT issues. In other words, a managed IT services provider gives you the freedom to focus on activities that directly relate to the growth of your business.

In this article, we will review the key benefits you can enjoy by outsourcing your business's technology challenges to a managed IT service provider.

Immediate Cost Reduction

MSPs usually offer a comprehensive range of products and services covering the typical needs of a small business. For example, they can supply computing equipment, servers, and provide email hosting services, phone systems, printers, preventive maintenance and IT support – for a fraction of the price of doing it all by yourself.

The lower cost is the most trivial advantage you get when you decide to outsource your IT processes and here is why.

Firstly, managed IT services providers have the advantage of economies of scale, meaning they have access to lower software and hardware on a wholesale price they can pass on to their customers.

Secondly, professionals have the experience of managing technology more efficiently than a business owner. The managed IT model heavily relies on process automation and outsourcing, which allows the providers to reduce their operational costs lower than your business can ever do.

Also, service providers have already invested in the necessary tooling and infrastructure to manage and operate their customers’ networks, so you do not need to make these expensive software acquisitions for your own IT environment.

There are further cost reductions on the long-run. For instance, you do not need to keep training your staff on new platforms or worry about paying a full-time or part-time employee to do all that techy stuff for your organisation. You can channel these additional resources into the more crucial areas of your business instead.

Technical Support Is Always Available

Technical difficulties are inevitable and bad for business. The many faces of IT interruptions not only waste your valuable time and energy but distract your business from delivering exceptional service to its clients or customers.

Even if your business manages to recover quickly from an outage, unexpected expenses may arise shortly after. For example, you may end up out of pocket if you need to replace an aging piece of hardware on short notice or hire a high-paid specialist to fix the technology issue on a break/fix basis.

With a little help from a managed IT service provider, however, you can focus on what matters the most – your business.

How? One of the essential service offered by an MSP is tech support (aka. helpdesk, service desk). With an MSP having your back, you can always be sure you and your staff will obtain immediate assistance in case of unexpected problems, crashes, outages, data loss and security breaches. Enjoy peace of mind while your MSP is working tirelessly to resolve your IT issues as quickly as they can.

Value for Your Investments

A managed IT service provider not only takes care of your software and hardware necessities, but they could also help with choosing the most appropriate technology for your business. In other words, you will get the highest Return on Investment (ROI) with the right technology choices, and no money is wasted on unnecessary technology acquisitions.

As for your existing infrastructure, service providers can also maintain, upgrade and support your production IT systems allowing you to get the most out of them for your investments earlier.

Your Full Attention on Your Core Business

Once you let an MSP manage your technology, you will have more time and energy to deal with the more critical aspects of your business.

Face it: Your business deserves your undivided attention. According to a recent study, even a tiny IT hiccup can sabotage your business's success by keeping you and your staff distracted for an extended period.

With an MSP taking care of IT, you can concentrate on your marketing and customer acquisition efforts, your expansion plans and the quality of your products and services. Let others deal with the nitty-gritty of technology and work on your success instead.

Competitive Advantage With State-of-the-Art Technology

If you want to be sure to always have the best and most up-to-date technology for your small business, working with an MSP is the safe call.

Managed IT service providers can develop your business a complete suite of solutions, networks and operational tools using the most up-to-date technologies available on the market. Better technology choices can put your company ahead of your competition by lowering the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of IT and making your staff more productive.

Summary

In conclusion, those days are over when business owners did not have a full understanding of the value their businesses got out of IT acquisitions. Reputable MSPs will spare you from shady business practices such as hidden costs, unskilled and incompetent IT staff, and overly-complicated technology solutions not fit for use.

It is time to consider the benefits an IT provider can deliver for your small business.

This article was first published in the Arrow Networks IT Blog.

Arrow Networks is a managed IT services provider delivering a wide range of IT solutions for small businesses in Sydney. To start benefit from IT outsourcing, contact Arrow Networks for a free consultation today.