In today's fast-paced and technology-driven business environment, small businesses often find themselves facing numerous IT challenges. Managing complex networks, ensuring data security, and keeping up with rapidly evolving technologies can be overwhelming. Fortunately, a remarkable statistic sheds light on a pivotal aspect of modern outsourcing: 90% of companies consider cloud computing as a key enabler in their outsourcing efforts, as reported by Deloitte.
In this blog post, we'll explore how cloud computing, in conjunction with outsourcing IT services, provides small businesses with a dynamic edge and examine the top 10 benefits that arise from this powerful combination.
1. Cost Savings
One of the most significant advantages of outsourcing IT services for small businesses is cost savings. Maintaining an in-house IT department can be expensive, with costs associated with salaries, benefits, training, and infrastructure. When you outsource, you can often access a team of experienced professionals for a fraction of the cost of hiring full-time employees.
2. Access to Expertise
IT is a rapidly evolving field, and staying up to date with the latest technologies and best practices can be challenging. IT service providers specialize in these areas, giving small businesses access to a team of experts with a wide range of skills and knowledge. This expertise can help businesses make informed decisions and stay competitive in their industry.
3. Focus on Core Competencies
Outsourcing IT services allows small businesses to focus on what they do best – running their core operations. By offloading IT responsibilities to experts, business owners and employees can allocate their time and energy to strategic initiatives and growth opportunities.
4. Scalability
Small businesses often experience fluctuations in their IT needs. Outsourcing provides the flexibility to scale IT services up or down as required, ensuring that businesses pay only for the services they need at any given time. This scalability is especially beneficial for startups and businesses with seasonal demands.
5. Enhanced Security
Cybersecurity threats are on the rise, and small businesses are not immune. Outsourcing IT services can provide access to robust security measures, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regular security audits. These measures help protect sensitive data and ensure compliance with industry regulations.
6. 24/7 Monitoring and Support
IT issues can occur at any time, and downtime can be costly. Many IT service providers offer 24/7 monitoring and support, which means that potential problems can be identified and addressed before they disrupt business operations. This proactive approach minimizes downtime and ensures that your IT infrastructure is always available when you need it.
7. Improved Efficiency
Efficiency is crucial for small businesses looking to maximize their resources. IT outsourcing can streamline processes, automate routine tasks, and implement best practices to improve overall efficiency. This results in better productivity and a more streamlined operation.
8. Access to Advanced Technologies
Keeping up with the latest technology trends and implementing new solutions can be challenging for small businesses with limited resources. IT service providers invest in state-of-the-art technologies and are well-positioned to implement them for their clients. This allows small businesses to leverage advanced tools and stay competitive in the market.
9. Compliance and Regulation Adherence
Many industries have specific regulations and compliance requirements related to data handling and security. IT service providers are well-versed in these regulations and can ensure that your business remains compliant. This is particularly important for businesses in sectors such as healthcare, finance, and legal services.
10. Risk Mitigation
Outsourcing IT services can help mitigate risks associated with technology failures, data breaches, and disasters. Service providers often have robust disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, ensuring that your data is backed up and recoverable in case of unexpected events.
Benefits of Outsourcing Your Businesses IT
'71% of businesses say cost reductions are their main reasons for IT outsourcing'
- Infrastructure management becomes easy
If you choose to outsource your IT to an experienced MSP such as the entrust IT Group, we allow you to downscale the amount of onsite infrastructure needed by moving the bulk of your services to our secure data centres using the cloud. This allows you to not only reduce your hardware investments but additionally reduce the amount of physical room taken up whilst also saving on energy costs (which are currently the highest they have been in a long time)
IT infrastructure also includes costs such as licensing, consulting, training and monitoring all of which can be dealt with by your MSP, saving you time, stress, and money.
- Expert level support
It is always surprising how often little IT issues creep up that can completely stall projects. Efforts spent solving these minute problems are an easy way to quickly burn through time and money.
Most businesses that outsource their IT usually have at least one in-house IT manager. Menial tasks like password reset, updates and new user creation are usually dealt with by your IT manager giving him less time to work on important long-term planning and projects. These tedious tasks can now be dealt with by your MSP freeing up time for your IT manager allowing them to focus on their core role.
Having an outsourced partner allows you and your colleagues to have instant access to a whole team of IT experts who can deal with everything from something as simple as a password reset all the way to disaster recovery (and everything in between).
- Scalability
Partnering with an MSP removes any IT worries concerning the scalability of your business, up or down. As successful and growing businesses know their IT needs can increase very drastically and having the ability to scale your hardware, software, and staff easily can be extremely difficult.
Managed IT Services allow your business to have flexibility, especially in your business's early years where there is significant growth and circumstances can change at a moment’s notice.
As small- to medium-sized business owners, you want to make sure that you’re getting the service you pay for. With entrust IT Group as your partner, you will get proactive support, improved security, the latest software, technology, and more.
The Time for SMEs to Change
Every company has their own needs and depending on its situation different options will make more sense. For larger businesses, choosing to go in-house may be a viable choice as their economies of scale will allow them to easily invest in the necessary hardware, training, licenses, and maintenance costs. For SME’s choosing to partner with an experienced MSP looks to be the most cost-effective, stress-free, and scalable approach.
It is an unavoidable fact that everything from the cost of recruitment and hardware, to licenses and security, is increasing; this makes for unpredictable costs and low flexibility. Partnering with a managed service provider would allow you to leverage an entire team of IT professionals and equipment without the big investment.
Our team is headed by IT professionals with decades of experience in small as well as large companies them. They not only understand the importance of getting results but the bottlenecks bad IT and support of it can create. So, whether you’re a company without a dedicated IT team, a large organisation that requires tried-and-tested solutions to beat off the competition, or a company seeking to implement a flexible working strategy, the support you receive will be cutting edge no matter your business's needs. 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.
