The COVID-19 outbreak is hitting businesses hard, so everybody is looking for expenses to cut. Let’s look at some of the trends we are seeing and how managed IT services can help.
Inevitable Cuts
Although technology been more crucial than ever all over the world during the pandemic, IT seems to be taking the biggest cuts in business. Most businesses are cutting costs just to balance the budget, and analysts are saying that after the outbreak ends, the expected recession will cut IT expenses another couple of percent. Since IT spending has been increasing annually by five or more percent for the past eight years, that’s a problem.
Many businesses, especially those in hospitality and manufacturing, are already seeing big declines in revenue, so we can assume that their 2020 and 2021 expense budgets will probably be less than in 2019. These businesses, especially those considered non-essential, will probably be canceling planned tech projects to fund transitioning to a largely remote workforce.
Telework: How Managed IT Services Can Help
Looking to make some cuts to your operational technology? The right managed IT service provider (MSP) can help you maintain your current IT infrastructure AND help you find and implement the solutions you need to get through this emergency.
Help With the Remote Workforce
Before the COVID-19 epidemic, about eight percent of full-time workers worked from home. With the stay-at-home mandate, telework has exploded. If your company had remote work options before this, you’re lucky. You’ve probably had a much easier transition to supporting a remote workforce. Most businesses, however, are finding out that setup isn’t cheap.
The challenges of supporting a remote staff may not be what you expected. Many businesses didn’t allow teleworking because they thought they would productivity. Actually, most remote workers understand their responsibilities and go above and beyond. If you have an employee that is unproductive at home, probably he or she was slacking off at the office too.
The real concern is security; how to secure your endpoints and data-in-transit. This should be the main consideration of your disaster recovery policy, especially now with so much more hacker activity. An MSP can set you up with remote access solutions and a virtual private networks that will keep your data safe and protect your existing infrastructure.
An MSP Can Solve Your Problems Affordably
If you haven’t worked with an MSP, you’ll be surprised at how much is included in your service package.
With the use of a state-of-the-art monitoring and management platform, the MSP continuously monitors your network and infrastructure. With files flowing in and out of your network, it’s smart to have professional technicians watching your system for threats and problems. Plus, an MSP can provide you with tools to keep your business compliant with industry-specific regulations.
Finally, an MSP does all this for a fraction of the cost of an onsite IT department, which is a moot point right now anyway. An MSP will help you reduce downtime, keep your network and infrastructure secure and working efficiently, and do it for an affordable monthly cost.
Interested in how managed IT services can help during this time of crisis? Call Quikteks today at (973) 882-4644. We can help.