Building a business case for outsourced IT support in your small business

Outsourcing IT support for a small business may seem like a luxurious expense. Surely it’s cheaper and more efficient to have an in-house IT team? While this may seem logical, it’s simply not true.

Investing in outsourced IT support saves on labour costs, security costs and data compliance costs. Perhaps this is why 32 percent of businesses across the globe outsource their IT infrastructure, while 12 percent outsource their entire IT department.

Or perhaps it’s down to the increased technological know-how you receive when you outsource IT. Or the incredible opportunities to innovate with software development. Whatever the reason for its popularity, outsourced IT support is benefiting businesses all over the world.

However, It can be difficult to gather the support of everyone in your small business when it comes to making a new investment. In this guide we reveal some of the most persuasive facts and figures to help build a business case for partnering with an IT support company.

Reduce labour costs

Hiring, training and managing an IT team is expensive. A highly experienced IT Manager demands upwards of £58,000 in wages, while support technicians take £18,000 at the very least.

An outsourced IT professional may be able to demand a higher hourly wage, due to the nature of the contract and their specialist skills. However, when you consider what you’ll spend on recruitment, the expense of training, onboarding and managing a new employee, partnering with a IT support company can reduce your labour costs.

Outsourcing IT allows you to focus on your essential in-house employees, ensuring your human resources aren’t spread too thin, and your core team have the full support they deserve.

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Years of experience

While an in-house IT technician may have a good general knowledge of IT infrastructure, there may be gaps in their knowledge. There is a considerable skills gap in the IT industry. In fact, 66 percent of European IT decision makers report that their team lacked relevant industry knowledge.

When you outsource IT you get the full package. While a good IT Manager may have ten years of experience under their belt, ACUTEC is made up of dozens of hard working, highly trained professionals, each with their own level of expertise to offer to your business.

Cost management

Outsourcing converts fixed IT costs into variable costs, allowing you to budget effectively. This means you only pay for what you use and what you need.

Outsourcing your IT is highly flexible and scalable, ensuring that you’re never under or over capacity. By contrast, having an in-house IT team means these costs are fixed and inflexible. This means that if your company were to grow, you may not have all the support you need. On the other hand, when times are tougher, you may end up under-utilizing these fixed IT resources, and spending more than you can afford.

While you may have some anxieties about outsourcing, when you consider the flexibility of the service, you’ll see the decision is a pragmatic one. With ACUTEC we offer you exactly as much support as you want and can afford, you can then either scale up or down depending on your circumstances.

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Improved security

Outsourced IT support offers you improved security, and as a result saves you money.

The average cost of a cyber security breach for a small business is £1380. This number includes recovery costs, reputational costs and direct costs, often in the form of ransoms.

While any IT professional worth their salt will make sure your IT infrastructure is protected with basic security, cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated. As ransomware and phishing attacks become smarter and more malicious, many companies are finding they simply don’t have the technical knowledge to protect themselves. In fact, following a security breach, five percent of companies go on to outsource their cyber security.

Partnering with an IT service provider means you get access to advanced threat protection. Furthermore, if the worst should happen, ACUTEC offer backup and disaster recovery services, to ensure you experience as little disruption as possible.

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Data compliance

Outsourcing your IT support helps you to stay compliant with complex and evolving data protection rules and regulations.

The GDPR was introduced in early 2018 to help protect EU citizens’ data. However, for some companies keeping on top of the regulation can feel like a necessary evil. Becoming GDPR compliant costs money and makes certain jobs more complex. In fact, 50 percent of organisations cite the expense of becoming compliant as their major GDPR concern.

Furthermore, if you’re found to be non-compliant you could be hit with heavy fines, as high as four percent of your annual turnover.

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In today’s data revolution, no ambitious business can stay competitive without airtight data protection and security. By when you outsource your IT the hard work is done for you, leaving you time to drive innovation and pursue your business goals.

Broaden your technology horizon

Partnering with an outsourced IT support provider means you have access to specialised technology and software knowledge. This gives you the ability to experiment with the latest tech without having to spend time figuring out which button does what.

While your current system may be working just fine, without the advice from an IT specialist you may not know the true potential of an updated system, or how much more efficient your business could be.

Better yet, working with an IT support provider can introduce your business to revolutionary technology, such as the cloud. Taking the leap to the cloud opens up your business to a host of cloud services, that make business processes simpler and more efficient. Take Office 365 for instance, the cloud based suite allows your employees to work from anywhere, promoting more flexible working hours and better collaboration.

It’s our job, as an IT support company, to be up to date with the latest software and technology developments, we’re confident we know the best solutions to suit you.

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Innovate within your business

Partnering with an IT support provider can give you the confidence to go beyond your comfort zone and embrace innovation. At ACUTEC we offer you the chance to experiment with software development, allowing you to create unique software that’s specific to you and your business.

For example, take our client Top Tutors. ACUTEC built the educational charity a cost-effective, bespoke solution that increased efficiency and allowed for growth. Working together, we built a system that met Top Tutors requirements and embraced innovation.

While there are plenty of incredible solutions available off the shelf, nothing quite compares to having a bespoke solution designed to meet your unique needs.

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Outsourcing IT means more time doing what you do bestNot only do employees waste time by trying to fix their own IT problems, but poor IT infrastructure leads to low productivity. In fact, the average UK office worker wastes at least 21 days each year due to slow or outdated technology. When you add this up, badly managed IT could be costing your business more than £2,100 per employee, per year.

When you partner with an IT support company, there’s no waiting around for the problem to fix itself. ACUTEC offers 24/7 support and a helpdesk that’s open 8.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, meaning you can jump on the phone and get the problem taken care of, fast.

Taking your case to your peers and stakeholdersNow you know the benefits of outsourced IT it’s time to educate your colleagues, gain peer support and present your case to stakeholders.

Here are some of our tips for presenting your case and securing stakeholder interest:

Choose the right time to talk about outsourcing.Directly after an important business meeting, or during a lunch hour, might not be the best idea. Set aside time for the conversation.

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Anticipate their interests and concerns.As a small business this will most likely be around costs. Ensure you angle your argument to these needs in order to sell your case better.

Build trust and ensure that your communications are clear, equal and open. If they have any questions or concerns, you should be open to hearing them.

Keep your stakeholders involved throughout the process. Even if they’ve bought into the idea of outsourcing your IT, they still need reassurance that their investment has been successful.

What could your business achievewith outsourced IT support?Be it to reduce labour costs, increase security or to broaden your technology horizons, outsourced IT support has the ability to transform your business.

At ACUTEC we offer a range of levels of services, allowing you to get as much or as little support as you need. We make sure we build your IT around your business rather than the other way around.

With more than twenty years in the business, and the proud owners of the Best IT Service Provider 2018 award, we know we have the expertise to help your business achieve more.

Curious to see what outsourcing your IT could do for your business? Get in touch today.