Is your small business struggling to find reliable internal IT support? Are you stressed out by how much unexpected IT costs are eating into your business's bottom line? These problems are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding and maintaining the technology that keeps a small business running and doesn't even begin to touch cybersecurity needs in an ever evolving threat landscape. And if you also have to worry about government compliance issues? Fuhgeddaboudit.
As a business owner, you have so many decisions and choices you must make daily to keep your company running properly. An IT department, whether it is in-house or outsourced, plays a vital role in the success of a company. It keeps the printer from jamming, the emails flowing, and your customer data safe. No matter what industry your business is in, chances are technology, in some form or another, is a vital tool to maintaining business continuity. And that's often more than a a full-time job in and of itself.
It can cost a lot of money to keep your systems running smoothly. The cost of labor you need for installing hardware and software is even higher. When you choose a managed service provider (MSP), you can minimize the cost of maintaining your IT systems. They can also help you budget by keeping you abreast of when technology is about to become obsolete so that you are not hit with surprises.
An MSP can monitor and support your entire business network. It can also supplement your current IT staff that may be overburdened. They are knowledgeable to the current threat landscape and the latest IT solutions required to thwart bad outcomes. They work efficiently with your staff to ensure all areas of your IT infrastructure stay running day and night. An MSP provides a long-term benefit.
Using a team that has on call technicians and uses systems such as Dragnet and Sophos to guard your data can cost significantly less than hiring an in-house manager. The average salary can be between $50k-$120k per year to hire an in-house IT Manager. This can vary with location, education and experience. How can hiring one person to handle all your IT needs is expecting them to work 24/7 be enough to keep your data secure? What if your IT manager gets a better opportunity? Then you’re left having to pay to advertise, hire and train a new employee. Having an MSP that has multiple people that are familiar and comfortable with your network is a better financial investment.
ProActive Information Management can reduce your IT stress and help you focus on what matters most to you—providing excellent services to your clients!
When you choose managed IT services, you can scale your services to meet your organization’s needs. Some of these plans include taking care of your organization’s software, hardware, printers, databases, servers, networks, and phone systems. You can also select packages that includes mobility, cloud computing, and business technology application. You have access to a complete team of help desk staff and IT engineers.
Having a team, especially one with a Technology Alignment Manager (TAM) who is evaluating your network looking for gaps in service and cybersecurity, as well as a vCIO who is abreast of when the threat landscape evolves and your cybersecurity measures need to pivot (and perhaps include deception technology) as well as one who is knowledgeable about when the sunsets on software functionality and things reach End Of Life, can help you budget accordingly. A well developed technology and cybersecurity strategy keeps budget surprises at bay.
When you outsource your technology and cybersecurity services, you never have to worry about Nic from IT taking a vacation or staffing challenges again.
Outsourcing to an MSP or MSSP can make your entire business more efficient and allow it to run smoothly. You're able to select a company with the specialized training and skills you need. By outsourcing, you cut down on staffing delays and reduce the likelihood that the task won't meet your expectations. You also are able to reduce downtime when problems occur and increase your business continuity dramatically. For most businesses, just a few hours of downtime can mean lost revenue. But when a business is down for a week or more, it can be catastrophic to the viability of a company. Additionally, cybersecurity is getting more difficult to manage. An MSP that is focused on cybersecurity, that uses managed threat detection and response, both human and artificial technology (AI) surveillance, and deception technology, you keep your data and network secure. You also already have a qualified team in place in the event of a breach, ready to begin the remediation process.
Is a hacker is sitting there at 2pm on a Tuesday trying to hack into your network? No, they’re not. So chances are poor Nic won't catch it if the bad actors are messing around your network in the middle of the night. ProActive Information Management (pim), in conjunction with global cybersecurity leader, SOPHOS, has an army of technicians, IT engineers, an cybersecurity supersleuths monitoring your network 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Not only that, but we use AI to enhance that protection and deception technology to alert us to when bad actors evade traditional cybersecurity measures like firewalls and anti-virus software.
All of the aforementioned reasons combine to reduce your business risk.
With dependable help desk support coverage, you reduce the risk of disgruntled employees and increase business continuity.
Having a TAM and a vCIO who are consistently monitoring your network, the evolving threat landscape, and are knowledgeable about the software and hardware underpinning your network functionality and security, helps you reduce the risk of not only downtime and security, but also maintaining the governmental compliance standards placed upon so many industries. For example, running a healthcare network on outdated systems is a HIPAA violation. And that is a risk that not only puts patient data at risk, but can cost a medical practice thousands of dollars in fines, not to mention the loss of revenue that comes from a hit to its reputation.
In order to stay ahead of those fines, it is a good idea for businesses to invest in cybersecurity. According to the 2023 SOPHOS Threat Report, the level of cybersecurity to even qualify for cyber insurance is increasing. Having cybersecurity insurance can help pay for remediation in the event of a breach (which can run into the hundreds of thousands!)
Having an IT support staff member can be valuable, but most likely that person is a technological Jack-of-all-Trades. And in the realm of technology and cybersecurity, what you need is a specialist. Outsourcing your IT makes sure that no matter the problem, be it a paper jam in the printer or a fully developed network that scales with your company's growth, an MSP like pim can insure that your business is able to operate at all times efficiently, expertly, and reliably. So that you can focus on what you do best: TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS.