Do small businesses need IT support? It’s common for small business owners to feel that they can go without it, but it’s not a very sound strategy. As business has become more digital and customer focused, reliable technology has become a source of competitive differentiation with serious bottom-line consequences.
That doesn’t just apply to enterprises but to small businesses across Oklahoma as well. Here are some of the most important reasons why our local businesses must prioritize the health and stability of their IT.
Business Uptime and Availability is a Key Differentiator
The modern small business is fast-paced and relies heavily on technology. Even just a few hours of downtime can cause disruption, loss of customer confidence, and lost revenue. When that downtime extends into days, the damage can be catastrophic.
Imagine a few of these very common scenarios:
- You have a big meeting with a prospective client delayed because your teleconferencing solution isn’t working correctly.
- Natural disaster causes a major power outage that cripples your business for days
- A lost mobile device or laptop exposes valuable client information to theft and compromise.
These situations are not outliers, they happen every day, and without a plan to deal with them.
How You Optimize Uptime Matters
While IT support is essential, the way IT companies deploy it can vary. Many service providers focus on maximizing your network’s uptime. To do that, you can’t rely on the typical reactive approach, responding only when your network goes down or equipment malfunctions.
When you work with a managed IT service provider, things happen bit differently. They’ll work to help maximize your staff’s uptime to ensure they’re as productive as possible throughout the day.
Our team equips your staff with the best technology to empower them to make informed decisions. Additionally, we implement systems to continuously maintain and monitor the network to prevent errors from occurring in the first place.
Focus on Your Business, Not IT Management
Did you know that about 140,000 hard drives malfunction or fail in the U.S. every week and that approximately 43% of the 5 to 6 billion cyberattacks each year target small businesses? IT errors and threats are prevalent in the business and require a lot of time to manage daily, especially if you don’t have trained IT support professionals on staff, which most small businesses don’t.
Rather than spending all your time stressing over network errors and programs that require troubleshooting, outsource IT support and management to a trusted first firm who can handle it for you. Then, you can return to what you do best: running your business and providing a great customer experience.
Stay Ahead of the Competition
Businesses that provide a top-notch customer experience are much more likely to succeed above their competitors. Research shows that companies that excel at the customer experience perform 4-8% above their market. When you consider your yearly revenue, that’s a significant amount of money you’re gaining in the process.
How does IT support fit in here? A solid IT system keeps everything running smoothly so you can deliver your products or services to customers effectively and on time. To illustrate this, let’s look at how each of those the components of a company’s IT system help you increase competitiveness.
- Servers: Because servers host critical applications and services, including email systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, patching and maintaining them helps ensure and business stability and the security of critical data assets.
- Data storage: Hard drives can fail, and when they do they take hours or days of productivity Equipment like hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) that store all the critical information that helps your staff make decisions.
- Networking equipment: Routers, switches, and firewalls that keep you online and prevent security threats need to be managed and maintained to maintain employee morale and productivity..
- Workstations and computers: Computers, monitors, software, and other tools your employees use to manage information, collaborate, and deliver services.
In addition, many other aspects of business technological systems, such as cloud storage, backup and recovery systems, database management systems, and more, must also be managed effectively.
Why This Matters for Business
If even one part of your technology has an issue, your entire business can suffer for hours while your team tries to fix it. Imagine not being able to support your customers or work because your servers or software go down.
It’s not good for business, and you’ll have a harder time retaining customers (or staff) if it happens frequently.
Instead, opt for proactive IT support to stay ahead of the competition. With an IT support team, you get dedicated partners who will assist in the process, such as a virtual chief information officer (vCIO) who will help guide your technology and strategy so you stay on track.
Stay Safe from Cyberthreats
Small businesses are one of the biggest targets for cyberattacks every year. That’s because small companies with a limited number of employees aren’t equipped to handle preventative measures on their own, making them an easy target.
Investing in IT support that helps with cybersecurity will provide the necessary resources to manage your systems, and it’s a wise way to spend your money. The average data breach will cost a company in the U.S. about $4.35 million. Even though the damages may be less severe at your small business, do you really feel like taking a chance?
The Challenges of Preventing a Cyberattack
When you’re investing in a cybersecurity team for support, it’s essential to know what you’re getting. Here are some of the top skill sets these teams should bring to your organization:
- Threat intelligence and analysis: Cybersecurity professionals use advanced tools to monitor for threats and analyze trends. Their knowledge is highly valuable in recognizing threats before they happen and deploying the most effective systems.
- Incident response and management: It’s essential to have a plan in place in case a security breach occurs. Your cybersecurity team can act quickly and effectively in these moments to contain threats and lead recovery efforts.
- Cloud security proficiency: Many businesses use cloud storage or programs that work out of cloud-based architecture, like AWS or Microsoft Azure. You’ll want to have professionals on your team who are proficient in protecting these systems to maintain security throughout operations.
- Security automation: AI is becoming more prevalent in cybersecurity to streamline operations and handle repetitive tasks faster. Professionals who use it to their advantage can free up resources that reduce costs and help focus on the most important tasks.
While all this expertise and more that you get with a cybersecurity team has costs that come with it, small businesses continuously find that it’s worth it compared to the cost of falling victim to cyberattacks.
Keep Employees Happy
One of the biggest reasons employees leave a company is a poor culture, with research finding that the average employee considers work culture 10.4 times more important than pay.
A well-managed IT system will improve your company’s culture and keep your employees happy. By empowering staff with cutting-edge IT, you make them feel like you value their time. As a result, they’ll feel like their efforts are important and will be more likely to value their time at your company.
