You’ve spent years developing and growing your small business, so letting go and letting someone else take the reigns on something (like your IT support) is a challenge. We get it. But here’s why you should do it anyway.
In-house IT support equals unnecessary spending
Outsourcing your IT support can help you achieve business growth at a reasonable cost. How? Well, first of all, it eliminates the cost of having an in-house IT support facility. Having your own internal IT support team means covering the cost of:
- Hardware and other equipment like servers and racks;
- Software licenses and cloud service subscriptions for IT support, on top of your business-wide software; and
- Routine maintenance activity and other bills.
And, of course, there’s the obvious cost of the in-house technicians themselves. On average, your business would need two in-house technicians to be effective. Even if you hire entry-level technicians with an annual base salary of around £27,000 (excluding your national insurance contribution), you still have to front substantial costs like:
- Recruitment time, which is around 150 hours per successful candidate at an average cost of £5000;
- Onboarding time, which can take up to four weeks;
- Sick days, training and assessment days, courses and holidays; and
- Management and support time, bonuses and employee benefits.
Taking all those costs into account, the actual cost of one internal technician is at least £69,000. That means your in-house IT support costs could be up to approximately £158,000 at a minimum – and that’s without really taking all your overhead and reinvestment costs into consideration. Ouch.
Taken all together, this is a lot of money to spend.
But here’s the thing: outsourcing your IT support isn’t just about saving money. It can help you better manage your other costs, improve the security and reliability of your IT setup, and it lets you focus on running your business instead of troubleshooting IT problems.
#1: Better cost management
Cash flow, not cash itself, is the real king in the world of small business. That’s why, for an SMB, outsourcing some functions like IT support can help keep your business afloat.
Random and unexpected expenses can cripple a small business, and companies with internal IT can find it difficult to manage their finances. Outsourcing your IT makes it easier for you to keep cash flow positive because it’s a consistent and controlled monthly expense. You can work with your IT partner to develop a support plan that fits within your budget, and they will help you manage your spend (and avoid nasty surprises) on things like software licenses, hosting fees and other costs.
#2: Better security
When your company doesn’t specialise in IT, your in-house team are more likely to make mistakes. This can put your company’s sensitive data at risk. From the beginning, outsourced IT services can bring their experience to bear against hackers. They know their methods and know the most prudent and effective ways to counter security threats. When you know your enemy, you have a better chance of beating them.
Yet, knowledge isn’t enough on its own. Your business needs the tools and the technology to ensure security standards. Remember, you can write-off the price of investing in security technology against the saving made through avoiding a data breach. In the past 12 months, the average breach has cost businesses £1,570 per incident.
It’s better to make an investment rather than put your cash flow in jeopardy with poor security. Outsource to experts who can advise you on best practices, protecting your data and revenue.
#3: Better use of your talent and resources
In business, time is money. If you spend all your time handling IT-related issues you get nothing done. All the while, your competitors are focusing on their product, customer services or marketing areas which can see them dominate your shared market.
Unless your business is IT support, you should let people do their job without worrying about IT issues.
Outsourcing your IT makes better use of your resources by improving efficiency. Indeed, 47 percent of small businesses said improving IT efficiency is their reason for getting outsourced IT support. This makes sense given the rapid pace of innovation in technology, and the link between improved efficiency and productivity. If you don’t keep up, your business might fall behind.
This is difficult to achieve if IT support isn’t your day job. Even if you have one person in charge of all IT support, they won’t be able to handle every crisis while improving IT capability.
Outsourcing your IT allows you to make better use of your resources. You can be more efficient while receiving all the help and innovation needed to improve business outcomes. This allows you to spend more time and energy on the things that matter, like growing your business.
#4: Access to data management expertise
Seventy-six percent of UK companies are planning big data or analytics projects in the next year. But, 70 percent of executives say they are struggling to find the talent able to do this. The top three drivers for these projects are sales and revenue growth, cost reduction and efficiency savings. They also want to improve customer intelligence.
If your business could benefit and grow through data insights, you should use outsourced IT services. They can provide access to technology and resources previously unavailable to you. Allowing you to understand your customer, grow your business and stay competitive.
The art of letting go
Management will always be one of the most important things within a business, there’s no denying that. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything.
The peace of mind found through outsourced IT support allows for better cost control, increased IT security and access to expertise which can benefit your business.
So, what are you waiting for? Choose the right IT support partner for your business today.
Why outsourced IT support is right for your business