Fixing IT is not always a DIY Situation

Protecting your company from cyberattacks, making sure your data is backed up, having support for your users when things don’t work, formulating a disaster recovery plan, etc., etc. etc.    It gives you a headache just thinking about it, and those things are just the tip of the iceberg.   What about that lost productivity over technology issues you know your users experience every day of the week.  How about those aging on-premise servers that have a half inch of dust on them (and probably 1 inch of dust in them) that haven’t received the TLC they deserve.   Then there is that nagging feeling that your customer’s confidential data in your systems is not properly secured and the looming lawsuit that could result if there is ever a data breach. 

All these things are real and valid concerns as anyone of them could be costing your organization serious cashflow and potentially lead to a going out-of-business sale.   Poor tech experiences also directly impact your team, from employee frustration, to lower output to increased turnover.  As anyone who has posted job openings knows, the competition for talent is fierce, the acquisition of new employees is expensive and employee onboarding, training and retention is a huge endeavor.  

The solution to the problem would seem to be to hire more (or better) IT staff.   You have IT problems so you need IT people, right?   Maybe.  Maybe not.  It’s not so easy because what you really need is a person (or two) that has an extremely broad knowledge base across many disciplines, including networking, cloud computing, IT infrastructure, systems architecture, security, cybersecurity, and the list goes on.    Those skill sets are hard to find on their own, let alone combined into one individual.  The challenge is even greater for small and medium sized businesses who have limited budgets for IT staff and can’t afford to hire more than one or two individuals with all those skill sets, even if they did exist.   

This all sounds very dire, but don’t worry, there is a solution.   Rather than undergoing the long and arduous process of hunting down and acquiring what you think is the right person or persons for the job, only to find they don’t know what you need them to know to solve your technology problems, look to outsource your IT department to a fully staffed, mission ready, managed service provider (MSP).   You can use all that time and energy it would have taken to find that unicorn (who, by the way, most likely doesn’t exist) on your immediate and pressing concerns, running your business and taking care of your customers.  By contracting with the right MSP you’ll have the opportunity to take a major step forward with your technology platform while reducing the business risk you are currently subject to by not having the proper tools and procedures in place to mitigate the potential losses you may experience otherwise.   With the proper IT support and guidance, you’ll be more likely to find technology is an enabler versus being an encumbrance to your employees, your customers and your business plan.