Every business relies on IT in some aspect. Whether it is to help accountants keep track of expenses using spreadsheets, inform a team on a platform that everyone can collaborate on, or simply a word processor so you can write down business goals and objectives. The difficulty is not in simply finding the right tool for the job, but rather the management and ongoing maintenance of keeping your IT running optimally. Many businesses try to manage their IT infrastructure in-house in an attempt to reduce perceived costs and decrease downtime. In reality, this more-often-than-not results in higher costs, higher risk and much longer downtime while not having the resources to manage.
The truth is going it alone often results in a less than ideal situation and does more harm than good. However, when partnering with a certified IT team, your business can benefit considerably in a sustainable and cost-effective way.
One of the biggest benefits of partnering with a certified IT partner is that of predictable expenses. Budgeting and sub-dividing costs across multiple departments is crucial to the success of a business. Most budgets get allotted at set points in the year. This means that while some money gets put aside for unexpected expenses throughout the year, it is impossible to predict the actual cost of unexpected issues. So why gamble with your IT expenses?
Most IT management services incorporate the cost of the issues they resolve into a monthly fee. These are often far more predictable than the cost of rare but expensive IT incidents. As you enter into a partnership with your IT company, they should be able to explain what costs they absorb as part of their services, so you can budget your IT needs more effectively.
With a dedicated IT partner, you also gain full-time access to a team of professionals. Unless you are a multi-national corporate enterprise, your IT team will likely consist of a few keen IT users.
However, with the full force of an IT partner in your corner, you have access to the resources, time and skillsets required to mitigate risks and optimise your IT systems. As a result, your business benefits from quicker response times and effective solutions that help your business stack up against the much larger corporate enterprises mentioned earlier. When working alongside an IT partner, you also decrease downtime. Often, if you have a small on-site IT department, they can be stuck tracking down issues that have already happened.
This can be a crucial cost to not only the functionality of your business but can also make you extremely susceptible to cyber–attacks as often the best protection from a cyber-attack lies with prevention in the first place. We understand that keeping an eye on your businesses IT can help grant you peace of mind, but by handing some of your IT responsibilities over to an IT management service you can be rest assured that they will bare some or even most of your liability for compliance and security. They adhere to the industry standard of compliance and security measures, which help grant you that peace of mind you need when running a business.
You can also gain peace of mind by safely backing up your data to a cloud server. Meaning all of your business data can be managed, automatically updated and replicated in an off-site location, allowing for pristine backups and quick access should you suddenly lose access to your data via cyber-attack or otherwise.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly is the fact that you can dedicate your time to your business.
When you aren’t worried about having the latest and most up-to-date software, your cyber-security, your cost, your down-time, your systems, your resources… (the list goes on), is it fair to say that you can now centralise your focus on growing and improving your business? The biggest asset that being in a partnership with an IT service provider brings is the freeing up of your resources and time. Meaning you can re-allocate resources and time to solidifying your business goals and objectives. Your IT partner wants to see your business grow alongside them. When they deliver, you succeed.
Want to see how you can benefit from a dedicated IT team? Talk to one of the team at ACS today.