IT services will see a 5.2 percent increase in spending to $927 billion this year according to Gartner’s forecast. They are forecasting a steady growth as 2014 spending is projected to grow 5.1 percent. Why are so many companies making the switch to managed IT services? Below are the top 5 reasons:
1. Focus on the Mission-Critical
Business owners and C-levels want to do what they do best. Their job is to be a CFO, CEO, Banker, Attorney, Doctor, etc. Simply put, technology is crucial for their business, but they don’t have time to mess around with it. They want to focus on their major business function to increase customer satisfaction and profits. However, we are finding that many C-Levels spend too much time worrying about their IT and are left with less time than they would like to focus on their major business function. This not only leads to a bad work environment, but also inhibits company growth, and reduces customer satisfaction. In this scenario technology is working against them instead of for them.
2. Reduce Risk
With managed services you don’t have to worry about technology, but your provider does. If you’re down, the provider is losing money and all the risk is on them. You pay a fixed monthly fee and if the provider is at your site for 30 hours or 300 you still pay the same monthly fee. You no longer have to worry about hiring, training, managing, and certifying an IT staff. Many business owners feel like they are being held hostage by their IT department and are making the switch to managed services.
3. Improve employee productivity
We find that most businesses major monthly cost is their employees. Depending on your business, it’s likely that many of your employees use a computer to do their work. If their computer is down, they can’t work. It’s important to consider what downtime really means for your business in terms of hard dollars. Taking a proactive approach to your company’s network and technology can make a world of difference in these hard dollars by improving employee productivity. We’ve also seen it transform employee attitude by removing blocks to productivity and the frustration that causes.
4. Obtain enterprise class capabilities
With managed services you gain access to enterprise class people, technology, and processes at a fraction of the cost of having it all in-house. NetGain Technologies invests a lot of money in our people, technology, training, and certifications (over 200 of them), which then helps you gain a competitive edge.
5. Reduce costs
Many times we find companies think they are handling IT the most efficient way, but after a few questions we find otherwise. It’s commonly believed handling IT in-house or paying time and materials is the best thing. After a few more questions, it’s usually discovered they are spending more money today than they would on managed IT services. Having IT in-house can be expensive; you have to pay for certifications and training, and then you are relying on a few people to know the answer to everything. With the speed of change in the technology world, it is increasingly difficult for internal IT staff to keep up with the latest trends in business technology. On top of training you have to pay for salaries, vacation, and other benefits, which can be very costly. When partnering with a managed services provider you eliminate these costs.
Overall, we are seeing many small to medium sized businesses take advantage of gaining enterprise level support at an affordable price for their business. If you feel like any of the above 5 reasons hit home for you, please feel free to reach out to me, and we can discuss.
