Industry analysts expect businesses to spend $376.13 billion on managed information technology (IT) services by 2025.
In the modern marketplace, technology is a part of and has influenced every sector. As a result, it has become imperative for firms, no matter their size, to invest in highly optimized IT operations.
As a small business, you compete with the big firms when it comes to acquiring IT expertise. Unless you can pay as much as they do for an in-house team, relying on small business IT support services can be a lifesaver.
Here is a look at some ways an IT support service can benefit your small business.
1. Cost Savings
A critical component of IT support services that make it appealing for any small firm is the inherent cost-saving.
As a small business, you have an evolving set of IT needs. These IT needs are critical to your operations, and thus you can’t afford to drop the ball. However, hiring an in-house team to handle the IT needs of your small company can be challenging from a cost perspective.
An in-house IT staffer is a fixed cost, and whether you have had a good month or not, you have to pay them. For small businesses that are still looking for product-market fit, such fixed staff costs may not be conducive for growth.
Depending on small business IT support saves you significant expenses related to recruiting and retaining an in-house team. You don’t have to pay standing medical benefits, among others, on top of a salary. Instead, the IT support team you bring in comes on a contractor basis.
These cost savings you make can instead go towards funding fundamental areas of your small business that can spur its growth.
2. Access to Greater Expertise
Simply put, IT support companies have the best expertise. For these firms, dealing with technology is their core business. As such, they have the time to invest in learning deeply about the latest breakthroughs and sharpening their skills.
Your small business, on the other hand, is more focused on its core competency. You, therefore, have no time to dig deep into learning about IT, meaning you don’t develop as excellent a skills bench.
Turning to an IT support firm can help you tap into this more considerable expertise at reasonable costs.
For example, whenever you need to adopt new technology, you don’t have to take time and money away from your core objective to get up to speed. With the rate at which technology dynamically grows, that can fast become a rabbit hole.
Partnering with an IT support company can help you gain access to higher expertise to help dispatch problems related to emerging technology.
3. Operational Flexibility
Small business operations can be highly dynamic with growth and downsizing happening unpredictably as you sharpen your product-market fit. Thus, investing in capital expenditure before you achieve a predictable operations level is not a prudent way to allocate your precious capital.
Your IT needs will respond dynamically to how your operations expand and contract. In light of this, taking on IT support services can serve you better since you can scale up or down with minimal fuss.
A reputable IT sourcing company can deploy more staff and equipment in a pinch. Thus, if you experience an upsurge in your sales and need to scale up for a time to match the new demand, an IT support firm can deploy this more flexibly on your behalf.
Once you find that you need to downsize your operations, you won’t be stuck with excess infrastructure. Thus your small business won’t have to be distracted finding ways to monetize the extra space and equipment that you’re no longer using.
4. Free up Your Resources
Partnering with an IT support organization can help you unlock potential competitive advantage.
From a financial perspective, you don’t have to deploy substantial capital on IT infrastructure. As a result, you gain more flexibility in your capital allocation that becomes useful in growing other initiatives.
You can also maintain a healthier cash buffer for your small business to weather the inevitable unforeseen circumstances that can threaten your firm. Additionally, you can redeploy your team to focus on what they best specialize in so that your output can increase.
5. Comprehensive Security
While IT can help level up your operations, it does not come without risk. Targeted data security breaches are becoming increasingly common, with small businesses grow as a target.
As a small operation, it is beneficial to consider using an IT support firm as they possess substantial cybersecurity expertise. Since such a firm operates as a contractor, it specializes in the security necessary for its area of operation.
That specialized degree of data security can help you leverage best-in-class security measures without paying an arm and a leg for it.
6. Around the Clock Support
Just because you deploy an in-house IT team as a small business does not mean they are always available. Since IT issues are not a respecter of persons, you need to have a solution you can deploy at any time of the day.
An IT support company is available round the clock, and that gives you peace of mind. If you should have multiple issues hit your IT operations, an IT service company can deploy as many people as necessary to help you find a solution no matter the time of day.
7. Faster Implementation
Deploying new technology or IT projects can move faster when you rely on IT support services. These contractors are best equipped to roll out new IT initiatives with minimal lag since their staffing and operational structure is tuned for such eventualities.
Although an in-house team can also roll out similar IT initiatives, they will invariably move slower. Learning new technology and preparing the groundwork for a new company project can add more delays to roll out, which can prevent you from achieving your objectives.
Let Small Business IT Support Services Give You an Edge
For modern businesses, technology is a do-or-die aspect of its operations. More prominent firms that can pay top dollar for IT talent have an advantage over smaller firms. As a result, small business IT support services exist to help small businesses tap into world-class expertise of IT teams without breaking the bank.
Do you want to learn more about how to use technology to grow your small business? Check out more of our content for insightful ideas that can help your firm succeed.
