Due to the size constraints of a small- to medium-sized business (SMB), personnel are frequently stretched thin with multiple duties to perform. So, just like SMB leadership, IT personnel often have to wear many hats in their day-to-day functions.
While these flexible and numerous IT roles allow your SMB to function with fewer costs, a swamped internal IT team can’t always deliver the technology solutions needed for your growth-oriented vision. In order to get past the bottleneck of an overloaded IT department, you need to bring in a managed IT services provider.
If you’re looking to reach your company’s growth point then adding outsourced IT to your SMB is a must – your in-house team may be running on empty, and unable to keep up with every demand. Here are five reasons why a small, internal IT department in your SMB isn’t enough to achieve long-term business growth:
While every IT professional loves to look to the future, an overwhelmed IT specialist simply doesn’t have the time for long-range planning. If he or she is putting out technology fires for your business on a daily basis, then time for professional best practices – such as documentation, high-level organization and long-term development – are some of the first items to go.
The world of information technology is constantly changing, so any IT professional should dedicate a regular amount of time to staying current on every applicable area of technology for your SMB. However, if an individual IT specialist must also be responsible for day-to-day user support and IT operations, then he or she doesn’t have time to consistently keep up with changes in technology.
A lone IT professional working in an SMB often has few checks and balances on his or her work. Because there isn’t a superior or colleague with sufficient technical knowledge, an IT expert that works alone has no accountability to guard against poor organization or outdated technology solutions.
While your business might be able to afford hiring one general IT staff member, for most companies, hiring a team of IT personnel is out of the question. Yet, without the expertise, specialization and efficiency of a team, your lone IT employee doesn’t offer your SMB a strategic advantage if he or she is caught in the daily maintenance and support calls that should be delegated to an entire team.
When an IT professional works solely within your company, then his or her perspective on technology solutions for your business becomes increasingly myopic. Even if your one-person IT department has the time for consistent technology learning and long-term planning, his or her perspective could be too narrow in terms of your industry. In other words, he or she could miss a key opportunity because of working only with your company and not with other businesses in your sector.
If any of these reasons ring true for your SMB’s IT department, then it is time to consider hiring a managed IT services team. Because technology consulting is outsourced, you avoid the cost of hiring a full IT team. You also counteract the five key problems outlined above in the following ways:
Don’t let IT worries overwhelm your swamped in-house team. Instead, look to partner with a managed IT services provider to take daily technology worries off your agenda and to help you with long-term technology planning to achieve your company’s growth point.
You need to strategize for your future – not just wait for technology fires to flare up. Talk to a Lazorpoint expert today to plot out your company’s long-range growth strategy.