Managing an entire IT infrastructure can be prohibitively expensive, which is why many companies are starting to outsource some or all of their IT operations.
Creating and managing the kind of IT infrastructure capable of supporting all the new technologies and devices enterprises will adopt in the coming years is far from easy. Today’s networks are always growing more complex, often spanning both mainframe and virtualized environments and accommodating hundreds (and in an enterprise setting, even thousands) of devices at any given time.
A company can try to push its IT team harder and ask it do to more without increasing its access to critical resources, but this rarely results in consistently better service. Instead, many companies choose to outsource some or all of their IT operations to a trusted partner, enabling them to optimize their IT without having to invest heavily in expanding their in-house team or overhauling their entire networking infrastructure.
Managed IT services can be a great option for companies looking to get the most out of their IT without breaking the bank. But before further exploring the benefits of such an approach, let’s run through what can go wrong when a company elects to stretch its in-house IT team too thin.
The Risks of an Overextended In-House IT Team
An understaffed IT team is almost inevitably going to result in persistent network connectivity problems for end-users. This is not only because a shorthanded team won’t be able to address each and every problem as it arises, but because it’s a necessarily short-term approach to IT.
When the members of a company’s IT team are significantly overworked, they spend so much of their time scrambling to close support tickets on a day-to-day basis that they lack the bandwidth to notice, diagnose, and address larger, more overarching problems.
At a certain point, employees tend to become frustrated with persistently subpar IT systems and start engaging in “shadow IT,” or the use of IT systems that are not explicitly approved by the company’s IT authorities. If a company is lucky, widespread shadow IT will not only increase employee productivity (people tend to accomplish more when their technology runs smoothly), but drive creativity and innovation, as well. The problem, however, is that unauthorized, unsupervised processes can expose a company’s networks to serious security risks and data compliance issues.
This should be a major concern for any company’s IT team. Research indicates that the annual global cost of cybercrime will double from $3 trillion last year to over $6 trillion in 2021. According to one study, the average cost of a corporate data breach currently stands at around $3.6 million, a figure that can rise as high as $150 million in some circumstances.
The Benefits of Managed IT Services
In order to avoid these kinds of devastating financial outcomes, a company needs to do one of two things: 1) find the resources required to support a much larger, better-trained IT team, or 2) outsource enough of its IT operations to substantively reduce the burden placed on its in-house team. When cost-efficiency is a top corporate priority, the latter option is almost always the way to go.
Executing an effective, forward-thinking IT strategy today requires an extensive amount of knowledge and experience. WLANs need to be designed and developed, network security protocols need to be monitored and fortified, remote locations need to be connected to the network, and updates and patches need to be continually integrated. Handling even these fundamentals can quickly become overwhelming and expensive for many corporate IT teams.
Managed IT services empower companies to engage in better, more mature IT operations without having to cover all of the background costs needed to push beyond simple connectivity troubleshooting. In short, managed services provide companies with all the benefits of having multiple expert engineers at their disposal at a far lower price-point than the payroll for such a well-qualified full-time staff.
When it comes to choosing a managed IT services provider, experience and reliability are critically important. At Turn-key Technologies, we’ve been providing award-winning service for over two decades. Every managed services agreement is going to be different, but we have all the tools and resources necessary to craft an IT management solution tailored to any company’s needs.