You’re in Business but is Your IT
Today’s business world is organic and dynamic. You and a handful of talented individuals meet at Starbucks, throw some bright ideas around, WordPress a website and there you go: you’re in business. Better still, your enterprise is international and accessible at any time of the day or night.
You sleep restlessly, dreaming of becoming the next Jeff Bezos and how you’ll expand your business to reach the next level. Then you hold those thoughts for a moment and realise that on your entrepreneurial road to success you’ll face many obstacles and diversions. You’ll need more than an innovative and enticing idea to lead the business pack. For every Uber or Airbnb there are thousands of start-ups that end in failure. Many outstanding business proposals have faded into the obscurity of history. Their legacy is one of unrecoverable financial loss and sentiments of what ‘we could have been.’
SMBs Fail
Failed start-ups often have inadequate and ineffective IT solutions to blame for their demise. The owners of newly born small to medium size businesses (SMBs) think ambitiously and want to take on the world. Unfortunately, their actions don’t reflect their thoughts. They operate their SMB in a small-minded fashion, keeping overheads and IT expenditure to a minimum. They are unprepared for the growth that follows success. Worse still, they don’t budget for the expansion of IT infrastructure needed to sustain growth.
Choosing Your IT Infrastructure
In reality, making the right choices for your IT infrastructure can be foreboding. Each SMB is unique, with its own technology needs, budgets and overheads. Unfortunately, there isn’t a generic technology solution to optimise efficiency, productivity and profitability. So how do SMBs decide on the IT infrastructure that best meets their needs? Many CEOs of SMBs go for the least expensive option to get their business operational. This ‘cheap’ solution can be a costly one.
The On-Site Off-Site Dilemma
Research statistics reveal that in excess of 45% of all SMBs do not employ on-site IT engineers dedicated to managing and monitoring their IT infrastructure. SMBs with a full time IT support engineer on the payroll are in the minority, forming 7% of the whole. So what do the 93% do when things go awry and a catastrophic event befalls their IT systems? Using their break/fix mentality, they rely on on-call engineers from computer service companies to restore order to their disrupted business world. These engineers don’t come cheap. Moreover, while most analysts promise to appear as soon as possible, realistically this appearance is later rather than sooner. Such delays clearly impact on employee productivity, profits and the long term reputation of a SMB.
The Challenges of On-Site IT Support
Many SMBs claim that they cannot afford fulltime IT support engineers. The SMBs that do factor IT staff into their budget face several challenges. Often young and talented, albeit inexperienced, engineers are employed with obvious cost saving in mind. However, the young and the restless use the SMB as a stepping stone to greater accomplishments. Consequently, SMBs experience a costly turnover of IT employees who move on to larger companies that offering more money and better job prospects and security.
The IT hires that remain with the SMB – either out of loyalty or necessity – are frequently overworked. On a daily basis they face an overwhelming load of mundane troubleshooting and maintenance tasks with little time for professional growth. Their discontent can grow if they feel their pay check isn’t commensurate with their workload and responsibilities.
Cloud Computing and MSPs
A forward-thinking SMB will soon realise that access to sound IT support doesn’t have to break the bank. Using a combination of support services via cloud computing and Managed Service Providers (MSPs), the SMB owner can rest easy knowing that their IT infrastructure is in capable hands. An established MSP will become the IT systems caretaker, automating management and maintenance of the SMB technology infrastructure. An added bonus is that on-site IT engineers can devote much of their time to meaningful development and potentially profitable projects. Also, outsourcing to a MSP partner means saving money on equipment costs.
The Final Solution
Each SMB is unique and has specific demands on their IT infrastructure. However, a mix and match approach could be considered the final solution to IT support. Using on-site engineers and the off-site MSP means your technology is flexible and scalable. Your business will be well prepared for the boom times that are on the horizon.
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Some of our clients include Edmond De Rothschild, Smart Meter GB and FMB.
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