For many small businesses, managing technology is it the bottom of the list when it comes to spending priorities, with business owners preferring to focus on front-end business.
Neglecting the technological backbone of your company is a perilous approach though, and every year technological issues cost the UK economy somewhere in the region of £35 bn. Smarter business owners realise that having IT support in place is a security measure that can prevent downtime and maintain high productivity.
Remote access software now allows IT professionals to perform many maintenance and repair tasks without having to visit your premises in person. These web-based services have given rise to more affordable remote IT support solutions, providing a level of flexibility that is perfectly suited to most small businesses and new startups.
Avoiding Calamity
In addition to providing general network and infrastructure maintenance, a good IT support strategy will safeguard your companies data against loss. Imagine finding out that your business has lost three years worth of client records due a failed hard drive and not having a data backup strategy in place. Cloud based backup technologies can provide an affordable option for small business data backup, and would have helped avoid this problem.
The true cost of an IT failure is not measured in the price of the replacement part, or the technicians service fee for installing that part. Downtime costs can quickly snowball because workers are unable to carry out essential tasks, productivity grinds to a halt, yet staff and overheads still need to paid.
Finding a professional
Finding a competent IT professional can seem like a daunting task for the average person. Word of mouth is one possibility, ask your vendors and clients who they use, and how their company has benefitted from the partnership. Swindon IT support specialists Excalibur Communications have a unique two tiered approach to providing IT support, the first stage involves gaining an understanding of your business and it’s objectives, the second stage involves creating a strategy that empowers your business, providing technological solutions that help you to achieve those goals.
Plain Talking
A good IT professional should be able to translate technical jargon into plain talk, allowing the less technically savvy to clearly understand the benefits and drawbacks of any potential solution. The support company you choose should pick solutions that fit your needs and budget. For a small business that sells shoes online, a USB storage stick may suffice for cold storage of accounting data. If your company deals with sensitive information, additional security layers might be required in order to achieve compliance.
Your IT support company should also keep up to date with the latest industry news. This will allow them to keep a finger on the pulse regarding product updates and technological advancements. You should also ensure that the company employs fully trained technicians, who hold relevant qualifications such as MCIPT certification (Microsoft Certified IT Professional).
A good IT partner will keep your company up to speed regarding any new technologies or software advancements that they think might benefit your business. This can help your company to streamline it’s work processes and maintain peak productivity. They will also likely have industry connections that your business can leverage to save money on new software licenses. For example, many IT companies have partnerships with a specific anti-virus software providers, they receive bulk purchasing discounts on anti-virus licenses, and are able to pass these discounts on to their customers. They may also have partnerships that can help your company get the best possible deal on new hardware when it becomes time to update your infrastructure.
