Peter Navarro May 3, 2021 Many owners make the mistake of considering only their product and supply as business resources. The truth is, resources encompass much more, including employees, IT, productivity levels, and, maybe most importantly, time. When these resources are managed well, success is inevitably the result. The opposite is true, of course, indicating that owners must always give business resources their due respect.
That’s a problem, however, when it comes to IT support. While most business owners see IT support as necessary, many don’t realize how significantly it drains their resources. The truth is, even a well-trained and hard-working IT support staff can be a massive drain on your business. That’s why most successful companies today use a managed IT service provider. Below are 4 ways IT support drains your business, wastes resources, and reduces profitability:
1. Expensive Infrastructure
There’s no doubt that one of the most significant startup expenses for a business is IT infrastructure. The cost of new IT hardware and software is a heavy drain on resources. Adding to that drain is the need to hire and train staff to maintain, repair, and run the IT department. Then, of course, is the expense of having a dedicated IT staff on board, which can quickly run into hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
I had the opportunity to speak with Matthew Franzyshen for this article. He is a cofounder of a New Jersey based IT consultant company, Ascendantusa. Franzyshen says, “Companies simply ignore the IT problems they have and try to solve for themselves, or else try to find a “cheap” technician by spending time bargaining, asking for a discount and often not having their problem solved definitively.”
2. Inability To Scale Up When the Business Grows
He further adds, “One of the most consequential drains on any business is when their IT needs outstrip their IT capacity. When that happens, productivity and profits crater. Also, it creates the need to purchase new, better and stronger IT products, including both hardware and software.”
Seeing as technology is ever-changing (and most successful businesses are ever-growing), an inability to scale up your IT support when needed can be a notable drain on any business.
3. Stifled Productivity
People are one of the most valuable resources of any business, it’s true. When you have a well-trained, skilled staff of employees working in your business, productivity soars and profits with it.
Constant IT problems, however, can stick a pin in that productivity balloon and pop it fast. If your IT is constantly freezing, glitching, or otherwise causing connectivity problems, your employees sit around and do the worst thing they can do…nothing. And, let’s be honest, even the best IT staff can’t keep up with all of the newest tech coming to market. The combination of an undertrained IT staff and disrupted employees can be a tremendous drain on your business.
4. Undertrained and Underskilled IT Staff
As technology continues to get more complicated, more training is needed for the personnel who run a company’s IT department. That, frankly, never ends, which means that the need to send your IT staff for more training never ends, either. That’s a heavy drain on business resources every year and can be incredibly costly, especially if you keep training and then losing employees to your competitors.
Conclusion
Managed IT services solve all of the above problems and several more. As we’ve seen, IT support can be a significant drain on any business or organization. That’s why the most successful business owners hire a managed IT service to run their IT. Studies have shown that a typical company will see a 200% ROI within six months after hiring a managed IT service provider.
If you’re preparing to start a business or looking for a managed IT service to run your existing business, consider outsourcing this task.
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