Outsourced IT Support in 2023

Outsourced IT support is a critical service for businesses of all sizes. According to a recent survey, 64% of SMBs are outsourcing at least one IT function, with 36% outsourcing their entire IT infrastructure. This comes as no surprise, as IT problems can cause significant disruptions, slow productivity, and cost organizations time and money.

By working with an outsourced IT service provider, businesses can eliminate these everyday stresses, allowing them to focus on their core operations. In this blog, we'll explore the various ways outsourced IT support can benefit your business, from reducing costs and increasing efficiency to improving security and providing real-time support.

Facts Surrounding Outsourced IT in 2023

Having an outsourced IT service provider with a dedicated It help desk ensures you receive the efficient and effective support needed to keep your daily work on track, improve your bottom line and take your business, no matter the size, to an enterprise-level of technology. Here are a few facts that give an insight into the benefits of outsourced IT support offers: 

• 53% of SMB owners believe they are at a competitive disadvantage as compared to larger companies in terms of IT costs
• 43% of cyber attacks happen to small businesses; only 145 SMBs can combat cyber-attacks by reducing their vulnerabilities. 
• 45% of companies have said they outsource their IT support to save them money. 
• 40% of Uk businesses experienced a cyber attack last year.
• The cost of IT downtime can mean losing up to £247k per hour.

What Can You Expect From Outsourced IT

Device and Inventory Management:

Device and inventory management is a crucial aspect of modern business operations. The security and effectiveness of a company's devices can have a significant impact on its overall success. Unfortunately, only a small fraction of SMBs - just 14% - believe that their current security measures are highly effective. By working with an outsourced IT provider, businesses can take advantage of managed services that provide detailed software and hardware information. This enables informed decision-making regarding device procurement and usage, helping to lower costs and prevent asset mismanagement.

With effective device and inventory management, businesses can ensure that their digital resources remain secure and productive, enabling them to stay competitive and succeed in today's fast-paced market.

Security and Compliance

Security is an essential concern in IT management, particularly given that 83% of companies allow Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Enforcing organization-wide security policies, improving auditing practices, establishing and managing multi-factor authentication (MFA) and firewalls, and implementing cybersecurity best practices are all ways that outsourced IT support can help businesses mitigate risks and reduce threats to their digital assets. With their expertise and resources, outsourced IT support can assist businesses in safeguarding against digital threats, enabling them to operate securely and confidently.

Network and Server Management:

Effective network and server management is essential for any business to stay up-to-date and protected against system failures and viruses. Outsourced IT support can help businesses establish a reliable and secure network, mitigate downtime-related losses that can cost businesses around £4600 per minute, and provide proactive network monitoring.

Additionally, managed service providers can offer hardware recommendations and implementation support, ensuring that businesses have the right infrastructure in place to support their operations. By managing entire networks remotely, outsourced IT support can reduce the complexity and costs associated with on-site network failures, keeping business operations running smoothly.

Telecommunication and Phone Systems

Effective telecommunication and phone systems are crucial for businesses to thrive. Outsourced IT support can help businesses ensure compliance with regulations, save time and resources, provide expertise in testing and certification, and help select the most appropriate service provider. With remote work on the rise, outsourced IT support can also keep all employees connected, ensuring that businesses can operate seamlessly regardless of location. Storage:

Effective storage technologies are essential for businesses to manage their critical data successfully, enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve security. Whether businesses are using the Cloud, onsite servers, or a combination of both, strong storage technologies can make a significant difference in their operations.

In fact, research shows that 20% of SMBs will suffer a failure of some sort every five years which results in the loss of critical data. Outsourced IT support can help businesses achieve their storage goals by providing product expertise and integrated hardware and software services, supporting infrastructure, and assessing their current storage setup to ensure maximum efficiency.

Applications and cloud management: 

Effective management of cloud environments and applications is crucial for organizations to move forward without compromising security. Additionally, shifting from onsite to cloud can help lower up-front costs, making cloud computing a financially sound choice. Outsourced IT support can provide valuable assistance in this area by automating and orchestrating software deployments, securing SaaS apps, setting up and managing file-sharing privileges, and enabling single sign-on (SSO) for streamlined access to related systems.

Virtualization:

Virtualization is becoming increasingly popular among SMBs due to its ability to reduce expenses and improve efficiency. By creating software-based computer systems that simulate hardware functionality such as networks and servers, businesses can increase productivity, agility, and scalability. Outsourced IT support can help by providing increased performance and availability of resources, automating operations to reduce costs, and simplifying business management.

Surveillance Systems:

Effective security systems are essential for businesses to protect their assets against theft and cyber attacks. Studies have shown that businesses that employ IT monitoring can see a 22% decrease in theft. Outsourced IT support can help businesses create a more efficient way of managing, recording, and storing surveillance footage. They can provide either a widespread system covering multiple locations or just a few cameras depending on the business's needs.

Real-Time Support:

An efficient help desk is crucial for any business that wants to keep its technology systems running smoothly. Outsourced IT support can provide a centralized resource for troubleshooting, managing user requests and incidents, and handling service outages and changes. By using a help desk, businesses can save up to 600 working hours per year.

A Support Partner With Experience

In conclusion, outsourcing IT support in 2023 is not just a smart move for large corporations, but also for small and medium-sized businesses. It provides access to expertise, flexibility, and scalability, without the need for substantial investments in technology and personnel. By outsourcing IT support, businesses can focus on their core competencies and achieve better productivity, efficiency, and profitability. From managing networks and servers to virtualization, cloud computing, and security systems, outsourcing IT support can help businesses stay ahead of the competition and thrive in the digital age.

Our team is headed by IT professionals with decades of experience in small as well as large companies between them. They not only understand the importance of getting results, but the bottlenecks bad IT and support of it can create. If the benefits in this blog appeal to you please get in touch with a member of the team on 0330 002 0045 or email enquiries@entrustit.co.uk if you think you too could benefit from our help.