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The Growing Importance of IT Support for Your Business

Regardless of size, all businesses require high-quality, fast IT support to ensure they can work effectively and minimise downtime. In recent years, businesses have significantly increased their investment in technology, resulting in added complexity and the growing importance of practical IT support.

Businesses with an in-house IT department often spend most of their time dealing with support requests, which can delay larger IT projects. These delays can cause companies to lose revenue and create a worse employee or customer experience. For companies that do not have an in-house IT department, a lack of high-quality IT support can be devastating, as IT issues can result in significant downtime and loss of custom.

However, this is just scratching the surface of the growing importance of IT support in 2024. This blog will cover some of the top benefits of outsourcing IT support and what makes a good IT support provider.

Keeping IT Systems Working 24/7

Businesses with an in-house IT department can ensure their IT systems are up and running during the team’s work hours. However, this likely only covers 8 hours of the day, 5 days a week.

In today’s world of 24/7 connectivity and reliance on cloud services, a system failure or issue outside of work hours can have a massive impact on your business. This could be anything from your website going down or an employee accidentally deleting an important file just as the IT department logs off for the day.

Many IT support providers offer 24/7 support, with a system allowing employees to submit support tickets for the provider to fix remotely. Most providers also use comprehensive monitoring software that checks over your business’s IT infrastructure to find and fix issues before employees notice something wrong.

This 24/7 support reduces the workload for an internal IT department and ensures your business is up and running at all times of the day, with no loss of productivity or revenue.

Strengthen Security Posture

Over the past 12 months, 39% of UK businesses have identified some form of cyberattack against their company. If these attacks are successful, they can be devastating for an SMB. To make matters worse, the cyberthreat landscape is becoming more complex, with more attack surfaces than ever. The greatest threat to businesses in 2024 is ransomware, which can lead to extended downtime and a costly bill to either restore the data or pay the ransom.

To safeguard against security threats, businesses need to implement a wide variety of security controls. This includes setting up IT systems and accounts with security in mind, as well as making use of additional cybersecurity solutions to provide comprehensive protection.

Working with an IT support provider gives you access to their expertise in cybersecurity. Typically, they can implement a comprehensive security solution that protects data, endpoints, email, networks and more. They can also monitor for suspicious activities and respond to cyber threats.

Strengthening your security posture will not only decrease the chance of your business falling victim to a cyberattack that may result in loss of time and money, but it also ensures your customer’s data is in safe hands.

Enable Digital Transformation

An exciting element of technology is that it is constantly evolving, as every year, there are new IT solutions that can transform the way your business functions. However, without additional support from a trusted advisor, SMBs can quickly go down a rabbit hole of looking to implement novel IT solutions that aren’t suited to their requirements.

Working with a Managed Service Provider helps businesses with analysing their business challenges, selecting the right IT solution to solve them, and then finally implementing the solution and providing ongoing support. A digital transformation project like this can massively increase your business’s productivity and revenue whilst improving the employee experience.

Also, for businesses that already have an in-house IT department, outsourcing IT support can free up their time, allowing them to focus on these larger, high-value projects.

Reduce IT Spend

While it may seem counterintuitive that spending money on IT support will reduce overall IT spending, this is especially true for businesses with in-house IT expertise. This means that there is little IT budget left for larger projects that can have a tangible benefit within a company. Outsourcing these requirements frees up the internal department’s time, creating more value and a more substantial ROI on your IT budget.

For SMBs that do not have an in-house IT department, it is typically significantly cheaper to outsource these requirements rather than hire an employee to manage IT systems and support. If a business does hire an employee to manage their IT, it is unlikely they will have expertise covering all areas necessary.

Access to a Variety of Expertise

To expand on the previous point, as IT has become more complex, having a single employee who can manage all IT systems and support is no longer possible. Working with an IT support provider gives you access to various knowledge, experience and expertise.

This includes specialisms in system administration, cybersecurity, cloud computing, database administration and more. As IT only grows more complex, relying on third-party support ensures that your business has access to all the expertise it needs, all for a simple monthly cost.

What Makes a Good IT Support Provider?

IT support is more critical now than ever before, and choosing the right IT support provider is essential for the ongoing growth of your business. When looking for an IT support provider, it is necessary to find one that understands your business needs, objectives, and challenges.

We can offer high-quality IT support tailored to your organisation and deliver value that helps you achieve your goals without compromising security. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you with IT support.

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