IT support is more important than ever for businesses. Should businesses be turning to professional support providers?
For several decades now information technology has been a major part of business, and the way the average professional works. Therefore, it is understandable that IT support remains a high priority, and a consistent consideration for businesses. Oftentimes, IT maintenance and support can be a sap on time and resources for a business – particularly smaller businesses with fewer resources at their disposal. The solution for many has been to outsource to an IT support company. For example, we spoke with one company that provides IT support for Charities – according to them, these kinds of services can save businesses hundreds of hours, and a lot of money. So, what are some common reasons why businesses work with IT support providers?
1. Focus on your Core Business needs
Businesses have many different goals and areas that they need to focus on – so it doesn’t make sense for most of a business’ time and energy to be focused on making sure their technology is working properly. This is the one of the most common reasons why businesses partner with IT support providers; their partner takes responsibility for running, monitoring and support their IT infrastructure. This then means that the business can rest assured that someone is there to spring into action if they do encounter IT problems, and they then have more time and resource to focus on their core business priorities.
2. Minimize Downtime for Maintenance
Downtime is a headache for every business. Even just a few minutes of downtime can disrupt workflows and seriously impact the productivity of the day – this in turn impacts billable hours, and can have a knock on effect that costs the business considerable amounts of money. Thankfully, IT support services can definitely improve productivity by reducing instances of downtime. For example, a company we spoke to that provides IT support Guildford businesses rely on, and they said that their clients have saved considerable amounts of time by minimizing downtime, as well as by delegating maintenance responsibilities to them.
3. Access Best-in-Class Expertise
Another thing worth considering is the fact that, usually, a business is responsible for the level of IT expertise they have at their disposal. For example, if a business wants a cloud architect, they need to spend time and money hiring one, as well as investing more time and money to ensure their training is kept up-to-date. With an IT support provider, on the other hand, this part and parcel with the service you pay for. Meaning that the service provider invests that time and money to make sure that their clients have on-demand access to up-to-date IT expertise and specialist knowledge.
4. Control and Streamline Costs
The cost savings that a business can get from working with an IT support provider are another big reason that businesses go this route. A company we spoke with that provides business IT support London companies rely on said that the primary cost savings come from the fact that clients don’t need to pay salaries and invest in training in order to access IT support – through the economy of scale, IT service providers are able to offer support at a fraction of what it would cost businesses in-house. There is also the possibilities that businesses will save money by avoiding costly downtime.
5. Scale Support for the Level of Demand
IT service providers are usually providing support to tens (and sometimes even hundreds) of businesses. They have a wealth of resources and expertise, and their services and setup to allow them to deliver support as efficiently as possible – but what does this mean for the individual business that pays for IT support services? It means that, if their demand increases, they can easily scale their support up to meet the demand. Instead hindering growth by hiring more staff and increasing the bottom line, they can scale up their IT services for a more moderate price.