Somehow, 2020 is already almost upon us. In preparation for the New Year, business owners across the country are taking a close look at their finances, scratching their heads as they inspect their budgets, line by line, to cut everything that isn’t absolutely necessary and searching for new investments that will boost their bottom line. In the midst of all this, it’s vital that leaders take a long, hard look at their technology budgets. Chances are those budgets are a far cry from where they should be.
Many business owners – especially those running smaller organizations with tighter resources – assume that IT is the ideal spot to cut costs. But they forget that, today, technology is the foundation upon which their business is built. We can almost guarantee that if you partner with a cut-rate IT support company, you will sorely regret it down the line. You’ll end up spending thousands more on broken equipment and systems, you’ll lose customers to server downtime and you may even fold completely under the weight of a cyber-attack.
The minuscule amount you’ll save by hiring a cheap support company will be vastly outweighed by the long-term cost of your decision. It is just not worth it. While looking at your budget this December, check whether you’re making one of these three potentially deadly mistakes with your IT investment. It might just save your company.
1 YOU’RE INVESTING IN A “BREAK-FIX” APPROACH.
This is the primary place where bargain-barrel IT support companies cut costs. Instead of proactively managing your network, your technicians hardly touch your network until something breaks and it’s time to fix it. Sure, this way is cheaper in the short term, but when you consider the enormous crises that can arise when something shuts down and the fact that they could easily be avoided with the foresight of a managed services provider, the true expense quickly becomes obvious. Not only will your business suffer many more tech catastrophes than they would if you partnered with a more reputable company, but those catastrophes will take significantly longer to fix. A technician who shows up only when something’s wrong simply doesn’t know your
network as well as somebody who works with it all the time.
2 YOU’RE INVESTING IN A COMPANY THAT DOESN’T BOTHER BEING PROACTIVE.
Technology shifts rapidly day by day. The arms race between hackers and security software designers is constantly happening behind the scenes, as is the hurtling pace at which hardware and software become supplanted by newer, better options. Without a managed services provider keeping you abreast of the latest tech trends, you’re both incredibly vulnerable to cyber-attacks and at risk of falling behind your competitors. Technology shouldn’t just be something you set up and hope it doesn’t break; it should be something you and your team are actively leveraging to maximize your impact. A managed services provider is genuinely invested in your success and will do everything they can to help you do exactly that.
3 LET’S FACE IT: YOU’RE JUST UNDERINVESTING.
In order to keep your company at the top of its game, you need to invest in your technology in accordance with how vital it is to your day-today operations. We’re guessing that it’s pretty much essential for your success, so why are you so quick to cut corners in tech? Allocating your resources to support your technology is more than a baseline cost to stay alive in the business world – it’s an investment that can substantially increase your bottom line and amplify the reach, scope and efficacy of your operation. So, this year, as you comb through document after financial document, ask yourself: are you really doing all you can with the technology at your disposal?
