Tip of the Week: Saving Money with Managed IT

It stands to reason that a business that can save some capital is going to be a business that has the freedom to do more with said capital - or in other words, the more money that isn’t spent on one thing, the more money that can be invested into improvements. One effective way that many businesses have saved money on their technology maintenance (without sacrificing performance) is by outsourcing their IT management.

Consider Your Own IT Costs 

If you’re running blind, your technology maintenance can (read: will) cost your business quite a few pretty pennies. Did you know that a small business that doesn’t have an IT department - instead relying on staff members to resolve their own technology issues - is statistically more likely to pay higher amounts than a company that proactively attends to issues?

Granted, there may be long stretches of time that you don’t need to make any investment into your technology support - but if you have to pay the typical break/fix rate each time one of your business computers goes on the fritz, you’ll soon be spending quite a bit more money than you would have otherwise.

Maybe taking on an in-house IT administrator can keep these kinds of issues at bay… but is this actually helping your business’ finances any? The skills of an IT administrator don’t come cheap - the starting rate starts at $50,000 each year, so if you can afford that, your business is doing pretty well for itself. However, you could also take on managed IT, which offers comprehensive management of your technology for quite a bit less than what you would pay an additional employee.

Why Outsourced IT Services Are the Best Option

By taking on Walsh IT Group as your managed service provider, you are fulfilling a wide variety of your business’ technological needs. Your network and infrastructure will be monitored and proactively maintained for far less than an IT administrator’s salary. As you might imagine, the value of these services quickly overtakes the costs that you incur.

Let’s consider a hypothetical (but very realistic) scenario:

Let’s assume that your business has 12 workstations and two servers. In addition to this, you have your requisite networking equipment, digital surveillance equipment, and a few cloud subscriptions for each workstation. A dedicated IT administrator may have the experience necessary, but one person isn’t going to be able to keep up with your network’s needs.

Selecting a break/fix provider is even worse. Each and every time something goes wrong, you’re going to have to deal with downtime and expensive support. Most businesses can’t support that… can yours?

However, if you utilize the managed services that Walsh IT Group offers, you’ll get:

• Remote Network and Infrastructure Support - This includes 24-hour monitoring, proactive maintenance, and remote management. 
• Comprehensive IT Consulting - This can provide value by helping you better understand how useful your technology can be, while putting you in a better position to acquire the technology your business needs.
• Help Desk - A helpline that any of your staff can call if they have computer problems, with live support to assist them. 
• Backup and Disaster Recovery - Keeping your data backed up and reliable in case of emergency is extremely important nowadays, and isn’t something that can be neglected. 
• Patch Management - Your software solutions and tools require maintenance to remain up to date. The same is true if you want to keep your network free from threats. To simplify things for you, we take over the responsibility of patching and updating the software you use to run your business.
• Vendor Management - Your company uses several technology vendors, and the amount of time it takes to work with them all can get frustrating. Our technology professionals handle these relationships, so you have one company to contact for all of your technology needs. 
• Onsite Support - Some issues may require a little elbow grease to solve. Our professional technicians will handle your onsite technology if we are unable to remotely fix the problems.  

Interested in learning more about managed services, and how they can help reduce your IT costs? Reach out to us at (832) 295-1445!