Today’s business landscape is constantly evolving, but one thing that’s certainly not slowing down is our dependence on technology to stay competitive.
The issue here, though, is that managing your entire IT infrastructure can be difficult to balance alongside other operational duties, especially for smaller businesses. For many, IT support is seen as an added benefit, rather than a necessary investment. But as our dependence on technology grows, so too does our need for high-quality IT support.
But what if you don’t bother? That’s where risks start creeping in. Your tech eventually becomes outdated or breaks, unscheduled downtime encroaches, or a security breach takes place, scaring away potential customers and worsening your reputation.
IT support in Sheffield doesn’t have to be a hassle, and by outsourcing professional support, small businesses like yours can focus on the tasks they enjoy best. Here are 7 reasons why you should invest in IT support in Sheffield for your business.
It’s more cost-effective than hiring an IT department
For larger organisations, employing an IT department is logical. However, as an SME, you may not have the means to do so. Financing an IT department is a huge expense, not to mention the ongoing costs following initial implementation. Wages, equipment and repairs are just the tip of the iceberg of expenditure.
When you outsource complete IT support, you don’t have to worry about training, sick leave, annual leave and more. You can just focus on finding an IT support plan that fits the needs of your business effectively. By outsourcing, you save your business money whilst increasing the return on investment (ROI).
Reduced downtime
Even just a small amount of downtime a week can have detrimental effects on your small business. Not only financially, but reputationally. While larger organisations have greater means to resolve issues stemming from downtime, smaller businesses feel the impact far more due to more limited resources.
A GOV.UK report highlighted that the average cost of the most disruptive breaches was £3,550 for businesses. Although these are specifically related to security breaches, they are one of the leading causes of downtime.
Support scales with your business
If your business is new or still growing, it may be difficult to assess how much IT support you will need. One of the biggest benefits of outsourcing to a managed service provider is its scalability with your business.
With Daffodil IT, you can easily scale your IT solutions to meet your growing business demands and needs. This saves you from having to consistently hire in-house, wasting time and money when you can easily scale up externally.
Compliance and security
Not only is outsourcing high-quality IT support beneficial to you and your staff, it also benefits your business legally. Cybercrime is only rising in popularity, so combating the risk and keeping confidential information safe is paramount.
UK GDPR places a direct responsibility on companies to prove they comply with regulatory requirements.
The Data Protection Act 2018 requires that everyone responsible for using personal data must follow strict ‘data protection principles’.
Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill is an update of the 2018 NIS Regulations to strengthen cyber defences. This bill increases incident reporting requirements, permits fines of up to 4% of turnover and strengthens regulator enforcement
Cyber Essentials is a government-backed, industry-supported scheme that provides a set of standard technical controls organisations should have in place to protect against online security threats.
At Daffodil IT, we can help you get Cyber Essentials certified with full support from our team of experts. We also understand that cybersecurity is not an if, but a when, so reach out and let’s talk today.
Increased Employee Productivity
When you outsource IT support for your organisation, you also improve employee productivity significantly. This is because employees aren’t waiting around for downtime to be resolved, they have access to high-quality specialised equipment, and their workflows are more streamlined.
Proactivity
Technology is constantly updating, and so are your business’s needs. Although break-fix IT support can come in handy, it’s no longer effective by itself. A perk of deploying complete IT support is that it is often proactive in nature. External managed service providers like Daffodil IT do not simply focus on fixing an issue when it comes up; we take preventative measures to ensure issues do not creep up to begin with.
Want to learn more about how proactive IT will benefit your business? Read more here.
Reduces your Workload
Trying to troubleshoot IT issues when running your business can be stressful, especially when you have plenty of other tasks on your plate. With external IT support, especially with Daffodil IT, you can ensure that all your technological needs are taken care of. Let’s just say, we don’t have 100% 5-star reviews for no reason…
IT Support in Sheffield from Daffodil IT
At Daffodil IT, you can trust that your IT needs will be taken care of. We strive to make IT simple and effective for businesses all over Sheffield and beyond! Since 2009, we have provided expert IT support to SMEs across the north – let us help you too! Let’s chat over a coffee and see how we can help your business thrive.
