Small business owners are often only focused on one thing — growing their business. And that’s how it should be. However, in many cases, small business owners don’t have the time or resources to follow tech developments and maintain the best IT practices. This can lead to many IT issues that actually disrupt business, curtail productivity and stymie growth. IT consultation services can help small businesses avoid many of these issues and improve IT support for an affordable price. The following are three of the most common IT issues from which small businesses frequently suffer and which consultants can help solve.
Insufficient Support
Many small organizations turn to outside vendors or inside departments that cannot fully meet their needs. Some depend solely upon the limited — and often costly — support of their hardware manufacturers or the unskilled efforts of novice “freelance” support technicians. Worse, some organizations go without technical support at all, relying on the skills of their most “tech-savvy” employee to who happens to be interested in computers.
While at first these solutions can seem to be frugal options well suited to an organization with simpler IT needs, ultimately they prove to be costly, unproductive and ineffective. Effective IT support for all organizations, no matter the size, requires both an understanding of the organization’s needs and professional knowledge of current technologies and systems. IT consultants can offer small business services and solutions that will meet all of their needs in a way that is ultimately more cost-effective, efficient and productive.
Obsolete Hardware/Software
Because smaller organizations are frequently dealing with insufficient support, they are typically holding on to obsolete hardware and software. Without the appropriate professional knowledge and experience, it can be difficult to determine the best time to invest in updated equipment. This leaves small business owners to deal with inefficient and problematic systems that hurt productivity and growth.
IT consultants help small businesses avoid these problems by standardizing hardware components and software applications, retiring equipment at the proper life cycles and leveraging lower pricing with vendors.
Security Issues
Like technology itself, security threats are constantly changing. Without the appropriate IT support, small businesses frequently struggle to stay ahead of these threats and properly secure their networks. These organizations often fall prey to attacks and must deal with the crises of compromised systems.
IT consultants can safeguard against these threats by analyzing current weaknesses, regularly updating operating systems and implementing strong security policies.
These are just a few of the many advantages of using IT consultation. As a small business owner, it should not be your burden to keep up with the best technological practices. Employing an IT consultant is a great way to ensure that your business benefits from the most advantageous technological support and solutions, while saving yourself from the time, costs and headaches of trying to manage things without professional services. If you own a small business and have experienced some of these issues, consider engaging a technology partner so that you can focus on what really matters — growing your business.