Keep IT in-house or hand the reins over? A new breed of managed IT support provider makes that question easier to answer.
IT management has never been so complex. Small-to-medium sized businesses in particular are finding it increasingly challenging and costly to handle their IT in-house, which is why more firms are choosing to partner with a specialist outside IT support provider, and focus on core business instead.
By partnering with a specialist IT support provider, most small businesses expect at minimum that their tech will work when they need it to and that downtime risk will be minimised. However the real benefits to the business extend well beyond this. Having a partner to manage IT support and services can help meet cost and quality targets, deliver new digital capabilities, increase productivity, efficiencies and revenue, allow for seamless scalability and vastly improve the user experience.
For larger Kiwi firms, there's been no shortage of IT support providers to choose from. But traditionally, small-medium businesses have either had to make do with non-dedicated internal IT resource (Joan in accounts or Jack the ops guy), or rely on a 'one man band' outside IT provider. Things are on the move however, thanks to the emergence of 'productised' (or bundled) fixed fee IT management services, such as that offered by Origin's offshoot 'HUM'.
HUM CEO, Michael Russell, explains. "Technology is critical to running any business these days. But in many cases, smaller organisations don't have the scale or the technical buying power to get 'best in class' IT all the time. With services like HUM, that has changed. We've taken the learning, contacts and experience that Origin has developed over the past 17 years, and re-purposed it specifically for this segment. The aim is to help small-medium sized businesses act 'big', by giving them access to the same technology, tools, processing power and expertise that larger, enterprise-sized companies enjoy."
Competition is tight, and budgets and profit margins tighter. There's mounting pressure to be "always on", and technology that was once optional is now essential. The growth and competitiveness of smaller firms is being increasingly constrained by their limited internal IT resources, which is why it makes sense for them to seek out partners who are incentivised to help them stay competitive, innovate and expand, and to manage risk.
Without question, there's a need for this extra (and expert) IT support. But is it cost-prohibitive? Apparently not.
"When we first looked at moving to an IT service provider," says Shayne Miers of TNL, "we did the numbers and found that we were spending far more on IT than we thought. People hours, hardware and software, security, lost revenue through downtime - it was all adding up."
"Moving to HUM has helped us streamline the budget and eliminate bill shock," explains Shane. "We've gained a heap of transparency with the one fee per user per month - we know what we are getting, we know what we're using, and we know what it's going to cost."
The partner model and flat-fee pricing offered by managed IT service providers incentivises them to drive efficiencies in their own business, which in turn passes quality and value on to their clients.
They're able to deliver a level of service that's virtually impossible to replicate at an individual business level. For example, by employing leading edge automation technology and leveraging collective learnings that are shared across hundreds of sites, they can prevent and resolve IT issues for a fraction of the equivalent in-house man hours. A monitoring and maintenance automation tool, combined with the managed service provider's people and processing power can radically increase efficiencies and reduce the occurrence of human error.
When small businesses are looking for an IT partner it pays to shop around, as the level of service can vary greatly between providers. One part of the service bundle - 24/7 support - clearly illustrates this difference.
Many managed IT providers offer a 'pager service' level of support to their customers. This can mean issue resolution can be delayed by hours (if not days). However, a gold standard managed IT provider will offer real time 24/7 support, meaning business owners and their staff have access to around-the-clock IT help and advice. So if a server goes down in the middle of the night, a swift fix is only a phone call away, and is included in a flat monthly fee.
Says Shayne Miers, "We feel like we've got an IT solution that's working across the whole of the company now. It's given us confidence. If anything happens - IT glitches are inevitable here and there - we can be back up and running so much faster. HUM's support engine can scale up to cover a tonne of man-hours in a short space of time, which is really reassuring. We're also really well set up for future growth."
The more a business relies on technology, the more vulnerable it is, and when there's a problem or outage, even for a short time, the effects can be devastating.
While the cost of IT downtime is significant ($2000+ per month for your average small business, see fig.2) the scope of the risk also stretches beyond this, to company productivity, morale and reputation.
Outages, errors and glitches can't be avoided altogether. But with 24/7 support from a dedicated IT team, recovery is faster, less painful, and much less costly.
Given recent global cybercrime events (Wannacry and Petya), and some fairly alarming New Zealand statistics (see fig 3), security is an area that every small business owner needs to address, and fast. Unfortunately, they're usually too tied up with day-to-day operations to make this a key focus, and many also believe (mistakenly) that they've got 'security' covered with piecemeal offerings from within their existing IT.
The reality is, keeping networks, devices and data safe is a massive, specialised job. A reputable managed IT provider won't deliver support without also ensuring there are measures in place to protect their client's data. They will cover everything from managing antivirus software, spyware and spam filters, to data backup (archiving solutions) and security patches. They will also monitor network activity 24/7, to make sure nothing untoward is going on.
A proactive approach to security not only ensures peace of mind, but also tends to pay off over the long term.
One last factor to consider in the argument for managed IT support is the ability to access not just the best-fit IT, but also - as HUM CEO Michael Russell puts it - the "best in class" IT.
Technology moves so quickly that it's hard (particularly for smaller businesses) to truly future-proof, be responsive, and stay ahead of latest innovations and trends. Partnering with a specialist IT service provider who has a wealth of knowledge, technical capability and expertise can lead to a far more efficient, agile and scalable operation. The managed cost structure and economy of scale adds a further competitive edge.
"We help our clients stay on top of day-to-day issues and ensure that they have access to the latest technology without the enormous expense," says Michael Russell, "but equally as important, we structure their IT set up so it can move and flex with their business. Planning for future growth is key."
To find out more about what a managed IT support service could do for a small business like yours, check out www.humit.co.nz