It’s not unusual for a small business owner to want to keep costs as low as possible while their building their company. They might use a free version of a cloud service, rather than the paid one, or handle their technology issues on their own.
But one of the crucial mistakes that small businesses make is thinking that they’re saving money by handling their IT infrastructure themselves, because it’s often actually costing them more than if they had a monthly managed IT service plan.
An astounding 84% of small businesses don’t believe they’re at risk of a data breach, but hackers actually target them more than larger companies because they see them as “low hanging fruit” as most don’t have proper network security safeguards or monitoring in place.
61% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses.
A small business relies on their IT infrastructure for their business health and wellbeing as much as any larger company. When downtime occurs due to an IT issue, it can mean significant losses to their bottom line.
Let’s take a look at how managed IT services can save money, reduce downtime, and help your Bay Area small business succeed.
Why Should You Use Managed IT Services?
No matter what business you’re in, technology is the backbone that keeps you running. From CRM programs to team chat, business relies on IT that runs efficiently.
What are some of the misconceptions that small business owners have when it comes to handling their IT themselves?
- It’s going to cost me less
- I can do it just as well as anyone else
- I’m too small for hackers to bother with
- I can put it off managed services until my business is larger
Let’s find out why that kind of thinking is holding many companies back by reviewing the biggest advantages of using managed IT services for proactive technology monitoring and maintenance.
1. Reduce Your IT Costs
You actually reduce your IT costs by using managed IT services. An unmanaged PC costs an average of $5,000 per year. If you’re a small business, with just 10 employees, that’s $50,000 in additional costs because you don’t have anyone proactively monitoring and managing your computers.
Every time an employee has to stop what they’re doing to deal with a computer issue (either their own or a co-worker’s), that’s lost productivity costs adding up.
When you have a managed IT services plan, you have a predictable monthly fee for IT that includes management and monitoring of all your technology so you’re not caught with any surprise tech costs that break the budget at the end of the month.
2. Increase Your Efficiency and Competitiveness
With networks and devices kept at peak efficiency, you and your team get more done during the work day. You additionally gain the benefit of the years of experience your IT pro has working with companies just like yours and they can help steer you in the right direction with IT enhancements that can help you grow faster and gain a competitive advantage.
3. Reduce Your Risk of a Data Breach
You can have a two-person office and still get hit by a targeted phishing attack that plants malware on your system. No business is too small for a hacker to target, which is why a majority of breaches are aimed at smaller companies.
The average data breach cost for a small business is over $36,000, and many of them end up having to close their doors after a breach occurs because they can’t fully recover.
Signing up for affordable managed IT security services, give you a multi-layered approach to network security that helps you stay protected. You can also rest easy assured that your IT infrastructure has a watchful eye on it. At Skillio Networks, we maintain 24/7 monitoring that ensures you’re alerted at the first sign of trouble.
4. Questions and Issues are Handled Fast
While you may be able to figure out how to fix that cloud data backup program, it’s most likely going to take you quite a bit longer than someone that does this every day. Likewise, if your accounting person is having a problem with a spreadsheet, they could either spend an hour figuring it out themselves or minutes working with a remote login by their IT pro.
Managed IT services come with expert support, so you get your IT questions answered fast and can get back to your work without long IT-related interruptions that eat up your day.
5. Stay Focused on Your Core Business
Smart business owners know when they need to delegate so they can focus on their customers and growing their business. With your IT efficiency and security being taken care of by trusted pros, you and your team can do what each of you do best and focus all your efforts on making your business thrive.
Save Money with Managed IT Services by Skillio Networks
If you’ve been putting off getting managed IT services until you “get a little bigger,” find out how working with Skillio Networks can help you grow right now and reduce your IT overhead at the same time.
Contact us today to find out how affordable our monthly services plans are! Call 1-888-926-1985 or contact us online.
