Managing and maintaining your business technology can throw up all sorts of unexpected issues. One thing you should never have to worry about is who’s in charge of it all and whether your technology is being managed as it should be. If you have a dedicated IT team to do the work, you should be in safe hands. If not, there’s a risk that your tech isn’t being maintained to the highest possible standards. There’s a solution to consider, even if you don’t have a limited IT budget – and it might surprise you.
Technology Responsibilities
When resources are limited, the task of managing technology often falls on employees whose primary role isn’t actually tech management. Businesses can rightly expect that their staff have the computer skills they need to carry out their work, but technology management and maintenance goes well beyond a baseline understanding of how IT works. Employers should never assume that staff have the skills to do it. It could even be a dangerous mistake. Staff without the training and experience could inadvertently cause serious damage to your IT systems.
That’s a worst-case scenario perhaps, but unskilled technology management and maintenance can cause other problems. Technology that’s not functioning optimally can interfere with productivity and affect your profits. It can also be extremely frustrating for users. It’s clearly more desirable to have professional IT maintenance.
One way to achieve this is to have an in-house IT technician (or even a whole IT department). This isn’t an option for many small businesses, or even some medium-sized companies. It seems like a more cost-effective option to let it run until an issue occurs, and then bring in a technician to address the problem.
The flaw in this approach is that technology can often limp along, functioning sub-optimally. Giving it professional attention only when it’s malfunctioning significantly may seem to offer savings, but it also means that your systems probably aren’t getting the regular maintenance they require. Fortunately, there is another option: managed services.
Managed Services and Outsourcing
All the IT support you need for business success is available if you take advantage of managed services. Outsourcing your technology management and maintenance can help you, whether you have in-house IT technical staff or not. Outsourcing can relieve you of routine monitoring and maintenance, freeing up the staff who currently carry that responsibility – and because most of it can be done remotely, it doesn’t matter where you are located. You won’t have to hire additional staff to benefit from expert technology management and it’s a flexible, affordable option.
Quikteks aim to be your go-to resource for business technology. Give our technology professionals a call at (973) 882-4644, and discover how outsourcing and managed services can assist you.