It’s no secret that small business owners wear a lot of hats, especially when they’re starting out. In addition to being experts in their industry, they also have to excel at sales and marketing, social media and search engine optimization, human resources, bookkeeping, research and development, and strategic planning.
Or do they?
Outsourcing has gotten a bad rep in recent years, in part because of its association with offshore companies that aren’t very good at fulfilling the needs of American businesses. However, it’s a necessity for small and medium-sized business that simply don’t have the capital to hire a stable of experts to work in-house full-time or even part-time.
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You might fancy yourself an early adopter and a pro at Mac keyboard shortcuts, but that doesn’t mean you can handle your own information technology. The benefits of outsourcing are especially apparent when it comes to your IT department.
Seven Surprising Benefits of Outsourcing IT Support
Avoid human resources headaches
Your IT department needs to be top-notch even if it’s just one employee. After all, IT is how you run your website, communicate with customers, staff and vendors, and prevent security breaches.
So what happens when your IT gal calls in sick on the very day that your servers go down?
When your receptionist is ill, other people can fill in. When one sales person is on vacation, the others can cover for him. But if you have only one computer professional, it can be hard to manage without them.
Battle the bad guys with ease
Almost half of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses. It makes sense; if you were a hacker, wouldn’t you target those who are least likely to be protected?
Nevertheless, you can protect yourself against cyber attacks. This is one of the major benefits of outsourcing your IT needs. These professionals stay up-to-date with the latest scams, schemes, malware, and other nefarious attempts to sabotage small businesses.
Disaster recovery planning is another concern. Storing data onsite can spell devastation in the event of a flood, fire, or physical security breach. Keep your data stored safely in the cloud, however, and there’s no need to worry.
Grow your company gracefully
You’ve probably dreamed of the day when business starts booming. While it’s great to grow, in reality, a sudden surge in sales can mean major hassles for your operations.
Do you really want to take time out to purchase new computers or tablets for your employees, train them on your CRM, set up new emails and user accounts, and migrate data to the cloud?
Outsourced IT solutions offer rapid-fire solutions. They are ready to launch into action when your business begins to thrive. Just say the word, and they will make sure that new customers are taken care of, new employees are trained, and new data is safely stashed away.
Gain and maintain a competitive edge
Those other guys. You know the ones. They might be located across town; they could operate out of Boise or Bahrain. Wherever they live, they’re taking your business away from you.
Maybe their product is cheaper, or they have a gazillion glowing reviews on Yelp. Their search engine optimization budget is virtually unlimited, their ads are all over the subway stations, or maybe they have access to the best and brightest IT professionals.
Did your competitor scoop these folks from MIT and Silicon Valley by offering exorbitant salaries? You may never know, but that’s OK — because you can source these professionals for your very own.
Getting a leg up on your competition is possible when you outsource IT services because by doing so, you can afford to hire top professionals in the field.
Keeping your company afloat
The latest figures are in, and it’s not good news. Some 80% of new businesses fail to make it past their first anniversary, and half fail before they turn five. Why?
One sure safeguard against failure, however, is reducing your overhead while still providing customers the best possible service. And yes, you guessed it — reduced overhead is one of the benefits of outsourcing your information technology needs.
Do what you do best
Would you hire a crackerjack sales person, and then stick them in the warehouse to take inventory? Of course not.
It makes as much sense for you to be trying to take care of IT needs.
The benefits of outsourcing include letting you do what you do best. Whether that’s helping families find their dream homes, designing active wear, or making delicious gluten-free pastries, you need to concentrate on your core business.
There’s no shame in wearing one of the small business owner’s many hats, but make certain those hats fit you and flatter you. Taking on too many tasks, especially when you’re unqualified to perform them, is going to sink your business.
No matter what your business, there are certain things that are best left to outsourced IT professionals: data migration, disaster recovery planning, cloud services, computer support, security protection, and many more that you probably aren’t even aware of.
Are you ready to stop trying to put out IT fires and get back to running your business? It’s time to get help from the professionals.
