What are the Small Business Owner’s Best Options for Outsourced IT Services?
Unless your business is big enough to hire a full-time IT whiz… Or lucky enough to have that rare employee who can troubleshoot tech problems…
You need trustworthy outsourced IT support.
Technology is fantastic—but also finicky. Hard drives crash. Software needs updating. And hackers get better at hacking all the time.
Obviously, smooth-running business systems are critical. Computer woes mean you can’t make sales or service clients. Bottomline? Tech problems hurt your bottom line.
So, what are the best options for outsourced IT support? Let me give you three.
1. Basic Computer Support
Here, you call for help when you have a problem or a project. A technician helps you set-up a new workstation. Or you call when the network goes down. Usually, you pay an hourly fee for this kind of support.
One downside is there’s no ongoing relationship. The tech may not know your system or its history. And if they’re busy, you end up waiting. Often, these kinds of one-person operations don’t have time to do ongoing training needed to adequately address complicated issues. In short, you’re paying them as they get “on the job” training while trying to figure out your issues.
A second option is…
2. Basic IT Service
Here, you pay a set monthly fee for basic (usually remote) service. If you have bigger issues and need additional hours, you ‘ll get invoiced for those separately.
The result is typically “bare minimal” service in an informal relationship where the scope of the agreement isn’t always clear. Here, you’ll rarely get best practices for IT management.
3. Managed IT Services
Here you’ll pay a monthly fee, and it’ll likely be higher. However, you get so much more value in return.
- A partner—someone who’s invested in your business’s success, can help with third party vendors, and keep your technology aligned with your business objectives
- No extra invoices. From month to month, you’ll know exactly what your technology spend will be.
- Proactive support. Highly-trained, tested, and certified technicians will work behind the scenes to eliminate potential problems before those issues have a chance to sideline your work force.
- More tech security (hugely important in an era of increasing ransomware attacks).
- Faster responses.
When it comes to outsourced IT support, you do have options. The bad news? Not all those options are equal.
Be careful. Most of the time, you do get what you pay for.
About the author
Todd Whitlock is a technology leader who executes high-ROI software, hardware, and mobile support road maps aligned with your business objectives. Since 1998, company stakeholders have partnered to formulate strategic plans that guide the direction for their IT vision and daily operations. By leveraging forward-thinking intuition, Franklin IT Solutions is able to recognize new tools and technologies that prevent problems, reduce complexity, save money, and protect organizations.