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How Outsourced IT Support Benefits Small Businesses

For small businesses, the expense of creating an IT department is often too much—unless your business specialises in IT support, that is. Investing in outsourced IT support ensures the IT requirements of your business are met without having to set up your own department.

How does outsourced IT support benefit small businesses? By outsourcing your IT support, you can have peace of mind that your systems are being managed by professionals. Outsourced IT support removes the requirement of creating your own IT department to handle your needs.

In this article, we’re looking at the benefits of outsourced IT support and tips for choosing the right IT support company for your business.

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The Benefits of Outsourcing IT Support

Here are some of the key benefits of outsourcing your IT support, instead of investing in and managing your own internal IT department.

Lower Costs

The costs of creating your own IT department are substantial. Once you’ve hired personnel – which is going to cost you tens of thousands as it is – you have to buy all the hardware and software that they’ll need to do their job.

Most small businesses cannot afford the expenses of creating an IT department. And really, why should small businesses invest in their own IT team when they can outsource their needs?

When a small business outsources its IT requirements, they pay a monthly fee that involves no hidden costs. This monthly fee is significantly cheaper than the monthly costs of an internal IT team, and that’s not even taking into consideration the costs of initially creating the team.

Greater Productivity

If you distribute IT-related tasks to your existing staff because you don’t have any IT support in place, you will find that it reduces productivity around the office. Nobody wants to be burdened with a task that they don’t understand or can’t deal with, so its best to avoid giving your staff IT tasks.

By outsourcing your IT support needs, you will free up a lot of time for your team, allowing them to get on with their real job. With outsourced IT support, you will have on-demand expert advice when you’re having IT difficulties. Instead of letting your staff struggle with IT issues, you can contact your support provider and they will have a resolution for you in no time at all.

More Time to Focus on Your Business

If you are finding yourself dealing with IT issues on a regular basis, you are wasting time that could be better spent on other areas of your business. Even if you can’t afford in-house IT support, you can outsource to a professional and responsive team that will deal with your IT problems for you.

When you outsource your IT support, you will free up a lot of time. You’ll no longer be lumbered with IT infrastructure issues, so you’ll have plenty of free time to focus on other areas of your business.

Running a business is time-consuming as it is. Don’t waste the time you have available. Focus on what you do best and outsource your IT support.

How Outsourced IT Services Differ

IT support companies, such as Optionbox Networks, typically offer a wide variety of support services to businesses of all sizes. Some companies don’t require managed IT support, so we don’t make you pay for services you will not use. Instead, your business chooses the level of support that it needs.

Here are a few examples of some IT support services we offer:

Remote IT Support: If you don’t need an engineer to come and fix your issue, remote IT support is a great option. If an engineer can fix your problem over the phone, always choose remote support. An on-site visit from an engineer is more expensive than support over the phone, so don’t pay for a service that you don’t need.

Remote IT support is perfect for occasions when you need an IT expert to talk you through the process of fixing your issue. If you’re comfortable using technology and you just need a guiding hand, choose remote support.

Remote support services cover remote access onto your PC or your server too. If an engineer needs to fix the issue directly, you can permit them to remotely access your device so they can begin fixing it. Our engineers are fully trained on data protection best practices, giving you peace of mind that our engineers will professionally fix your issue without looking at or using your data.

Onsite IT Support: Some problems cannot be resolved remotely, which calls for an onsite visit. For an onsite visit, an engineer will come to your site with all the tools they need to diagnose and fix your issue.

Onsite IT support is typically more expensive than remote support, because it necessitates an engineer travelling to your location. However, this does depend on whether you have a support agreement set up with your IT support partner. If you have a support agreement in place which covers onsite assistance, you can call out your support team without the incurrence of any extra cost.

Pay-as-you-go IT Support: If your business doesn’t deal with a vast number of IT issues, you might be better selecting a pay-as-you-go IT support service for your business. With this option, you pay a fixed price whenever you need any IT support.

Pay-as-you-go IT support is always reactive. When a problem occurs, you contact your favoured IT support business which will help you to resolve the issue. With other IT support options, such as managed IT support, your infrastructure is monitored any issues are handled proactively before they impact your operation.

Pay-as-you-go support will end up being more expensive than any other option if you need regular support with your IT infrastructure. If you and your employees can manage your infrastructure on a day-to-day basis, there’s no urgent need to have a support contract in place. However, if you regularly need advice and support, paying for a contract with your favoured IT company will save your business a lot of money.

Managed IT Support: The ultimate IT support option for businesses. With managed IT support, you sign a support contract with a support company, who will manage your IT solutions on your behalf. If you don’t want to concern yourself with your IT infrastructure at all or you don’t have the knowledge or time, this is the best solution.

Managed IT support is a 24/7 service in most cases. Your support partner will monitor your it infrastructure at all times, with both proactive and reactive support in place.

As part of managed IT support, your support company will complete hardware and software updates, backup your systems regularly and upgrade your cyber security to industry standards as new enhancements become available. When you have a managed IT support service, you never have to worry about your IT infrastructure. All your solutions will always run smoothly. And if a problem arises, the support business will be on top of it, finding a solution as quickly as possible.

Tips for Choosing the Right IT Support Business

When you’re searching for outsourced IT support, it is essential that you choose the right business to work with. The last thing you need is to choose an IT support partner that doesn’t enhance and protect your IT capabilities.

Go with A Local Option: There are plenty of IT support businesses across the country, so you can always go with a local option. For example, if you’re based in Leeds, there are several reputable support businesses in the area such as Optionbox Networks. By choosing a local support business, you know that if you ever need onsite support, a skilled engineer will be at your location quickly. If you choose a support business on the other side of the country, what are the chances of an engineer getting to your site within a timely manner?

Look Out for Guaranteed Response Time: When choosing a support business, look out for guaranteed response times. Guaranteed response times will normally differ based on numerous factors, such as the level of service that you choose. For example, managed IT support customers will have a quicker guaranteed response time than a pay-as-you-go customer.

Choose an Out of Hours Service: Your IT solutions should be monitored and maintained, even when you’re not in the office. To ensure that your IT solutions are always running optimally, choose a support business that offers an out of hours service. Many IT support businesses only offer support 9 – 5 5 days a week, which isn’t good enough if something goes wrong overnight or on a weekend. Some businesses offer out of hours support, such as weekend and evening support. You should always go with a business offering this.

About Optionbox Networks

Optionbox Networks is based in Gildersome, Leeds and we offer IT support to hundreds of businesses across Leeds and West Yorkshire. Our team of exemplary engineers use the latest technology to monitor IT solutions and rapidly rectify any issues.

We offer a fully managed IT support package as well as pay-as-you-go service for customers that want on demand assistance. If you’d like to find out more, please contact us and book your FREE IT audit to get a taste of how we could help your business prosper.

FREE IT Audit

Book your FREE IT audit. We’ll help you to make the most of your existing IT infrastructure with a comprehensive report that details areas for optimisation.

Click the button below and we’ll be in touch to arrange a convenient time to conduct your audit.