The key to competing as a small business is understanding how to access the services and support networks that let you serve clients the same way a larger firm would. Often, that means identifying situations where an outsourced resource is more cost-effective.
Focus on Your Core Business
The less you need to invest in equipment and personnel for support roles like administrative services, human resources, or managed IT Boston, the more resources you have for the work that brings in money. The more time you have to spend on client work and client relations, the more clients you can handle, so it makes sense to hire accountants and external IT services if you are trying to grow your customer base.
It also simplifies your job as an owner and manager. The more you can send out, the simpler the operation becomes. That eliminates a lot of the administrative work you can’t send out because you simply have fewer people and pieces of equipment to track and follow up with.
Save Money With Managed IT
Of all the things you could contract out, your IT might be the one that saves you the most money. External services handle your intranet and productivity app hosting so you do not need expensive servers and the data center hardware that manages and maintains them.
It also allows you to bundle your technology costs together, so you simply order the services and applications you need, configure them, and work, without tracking a bunch of license renewal dates or continuously pricing upgrade costs. You pay the service provider, they keep your software up-to-date. You’ll still need to invest in the devices that access hosted services, but that investment is tiny compared to the cost of managing an entire data center for a small business.
Troubleshooting and Training
When you use managed IT services, you’re paying for the knowledge base the service provider has accumulated as much as you are paying for the software and access to features like cloud hosting. That means you can count on them as a resource for onboarding employees and troubleshooting tech issues when they come up. With the right service provider, you can even integrate training and troubleshooting into your online learning and training software so it looks and feels like part of your organization.
As your equipment ages into obsolescence, this knowledge base can also guide you to the most compatible new models for the apps and services you use. In most cases, any modern device works, but some productivity apps are platform-restricted, and you need to know that before making changes to your equipment.
More Ideas for Streamlining Your Business
Once you have your IT services handled, it might be easier to figure out other administrative tasks and support services you can hire contractors to cover. The key is to evaluate the cost of maintaining the equipment and labor commitment needed for the task against the service cost. If you could make more with the hours the job frees up and you avoid buying equipment by contracting out, then it’s probably a good idea.
