During the pandemic of 2020 tens of thousands of small businesses moved online. Nearly 80% of their owners made the necessary adjustments to operate in a virtual environment. In some cases, it was done with so much haste that things were missed. Hence, small businesses encountered problems, especially during the initial months in a total eCommerce environment. Most of the time this was due to moves made within the business instead of hiring IT services. Yet, bringing on such an organization might have prevented several headaches.

To find out why, here are the benefits of IT services for your small businesses.

Extensive Training

IT service groups don’t set everything up and leave you to learn how it works. Conversely, they don’t take control of all your technology and don’t tell you anything. While they’re in charge of the hardware and software they want to make sure your employees know how it works. They do this by conducting the training sessions or bringing in others who are subject matter experts. For instance, The IT service business can help install a customer relationship management (CRM) application in your environment. However, they’ll bring in someone from the software company to deliver an in-depth education on how it works.

Continual Risk Management

One of the biggest responsibilities of an IT service company is to ensure your infrastructure and data are secure from cyber extortion. Without this protection, both you and the company can be irrevocably damaged. To minimize the potential of these attacks, IT service organizations provide continual risk management.

It starts with an initial review of the potential security holes in your organization and a list of recommended solutions. These are thoroughly tested and applied. If they initially work then falter, the company conducts further risk management to find the right combination. They don’t stop this process, even if the chance of a cyber attack is immensely reduced.

Constant Availability

You’ve probably dealt with numerous hardware and software issues where customer service agents weren’t available to help. Either they didn’t have a 24/7 staff or the service tickets were constantly escalated to another team without further assistance. This doesn’t happen with an IT services organization.

They are the go-to location if there’s any problem. They’ll be the ones who resolve it within the time listed in your agreement. If the issue is beyond their skills, the IT service will contact the vendor to help them out.

Modern Technology

When you hire an expert managed IT services company locally or from a site so your company doesn’t get bottom of the barrel hardware or software. Nor are you pushed to buy top-line products that go beyond your needs. An IT services company offers modern technology within your budget. They do this with your current infrastructure. From there, the IT service comes up with a plan to modernize your hardware and software. This is reviewed with your management team, and their recommendations are added. When it’s all said and done, you are provided with a top-notch IT environment.

Minimize Loss of Income

On top of this, the IT service organization works with you at the start to ensure your data is backed up. Thus, if a problem arises, there is a solution to continue operations while the issue is addressed. This minimizes the change of lost revenue and productivity.

One way they’ll suggest is to move your operations to the cloud. This means getting rid of existing hardware and moving your data to another vendor. This does two things. First, your information, especially personally identifiable information (PII), receives an extra layer of protection. Second, it reduces your operating costs.

Conclusion

As you see in the examples above, the benefits of IT services for your small business are numerous. While the initial investment might take a bite out of your budget, its return on investment will be great.

Nevertheless, don’t go with the first IT service organization you see. Do your research. Ask for a free consultation to see what they do. Speak to other businesses to see what they did. Most important, don’t be afraid to ask important questions. If you follow these guidelines you’ll end up with an IT service company that moves your business forward.

 

 

 

Rayanne Morriss is currently working towards her BA from Oregon State University. She loves to write, read, travel, and paint. Check out more of her work on Twitter! @MorrissRayanne