Use Your Technology for Business Growth

It’s a fast business world and when you are moving on an aggressive growth path, you don’t want anything to stand in your way.

Failed business technology is often a big reason for businesses to stagger or fall when they are trying to grow quickly. Many companies think big but tend to operate small-minded to keep overhead and costs down. They then find themselves completely unprepared to meet the demands of growth, particularly when it comes to their IT infrastructure. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to how to manage technology for optimal efficiency, uptime, and profitability, especially given the challenges of limited budgets and the need to keep overhead down.

So, exactly how do SMBs make sound decisions regarding their technology infrastructure? What options are cost-effective enough to get some momentum for their business without tripping them up once it truly takes off?

Combine On-Site and Off-Site Support for the Best of Both Worlds

Over 45% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) have no dedicated in-house IT staff and no contracted IT consultant regularly monitoring and managing their technology. Roughly only 7 percent of SMBs have a full-time onsite IT technician on payroll. The rest rely on third-party on-call IT companies who appear only when technology goes haywire and disrupts business. These on-call companies can sometimes take a day or two to even show up, which means issues aren’t resolved in a timely and efficient manner. And did we mention they’re expensive?

Most SMBs say they simply can’t afford full-time in-house support. Even those who do budget for it face overwhelming challenges. They often experience a revolving door of on-site help who leave for a larger company and a better salary once they’ve beefed up their resume. And those hires that do remain loyal often feel as if they have no reliable help and become overworked and frazzled as the business and their responsibilities grow. Discontent may even set in if wages aren’t raised proportionately to the added responsibilities or if they grow bored of doing the same mundane, repetitive work every day.

Scaleable IT Support is the Answer

But today’s SMB has access to technology for business growth that won’t drain resources. In particular, the evolution of cloud computing and managed services can either automate or re-assign much of the day-to-day caretaking of technology to remote employees, leaving onsite support available for more meaningful and potentially profitable projects. Better yet, it saves money on equipment costs. Whenever possible, a mix of on-premise and off-premise IT support is the best way to make your technology scalable and prepared for growth.