Outsourcing some or all of your IT is becoming more the norm nationwide and the Miami area is no exception. If your company is looking at partnering with an IT company to provide services, support and monitoring, knowing what to ask is essential.
What should you ask IT companies in Miami before making a decision? Questions about your IT staff's abilities and workload are essential, as are those about what tech issues your employees and customers are regularly facing. Finally, you need to ask if you have a comprehensive IT strategy.
How Common Is IT Outsourcing?
The 2018 Tech Insights study by SWC includes some startling facts about the role of IT in business today:
- Ninety-two percent of companies outsource at least some of their IT. The most frequently cited reasons for outsourcing are:
- Work is outside company scope or expertise (73 percent)
- Additional bandwidth need (37 percent)
- Greater ROI or cost savings (29 percent)
- Guidance needed with building roadmap for new technology (23 percent)
- Eighty-one percent of organizations believe that IT is a strategic component of their business success, up from 45 percent in 2016.
- Workforce productivity is the top business priority in the next year, meaning using technologies and tools that are reliable and improve collaboration, communication and outcomes. The top 5 priorities cited by respondents are:
- Improve workforce productivity
- Reduce operational costs
- Advance cybersecurity
- Empower expansion and growth
- Improve decision-making through analysis
- Only 29 percent of companies are addressing compliance and regulatory readiness.
- Seventy-eight percent of respondents believe their organization is a cyber attack target.
- Nearly a third (32 percent) of companies have no plans to move mission-critical work to the cloud.
Why Do I Need IT Companies in Miami With An In-House Staff?
It's true that many companies have small internal IT staffs. Many others have none, relying on as-needed repairs and support, which is costly.
Small IT staffs are usually stretched too thin. With few staffers on hand, users often need to wait to have technical issues resolved, adding more downtime and slowing productivity to a crawl. A lean IT staff may be in charge of everything from patch updates to security monitoring to ordering and setting up computers for new employees. That's a lot of work to place on a small staff.
Understaffed IT departments leave themselves more exposed to cyber attacks. Hackers are increasingly targeting small- and medium-sized businesses, leading many to rely on IT companies in Miami as a better option.
With managed IT services, you have the complete resources of a tech partner at your disposal. Systems are continuously monitored for suspicious activity. Help-desk support is managed by a team of experts who have extensive experience with the most common software programs and hardware issues, most of which can be managed remotely ... and quickly.
Should I Hire More Internal IT Staff?
Some companies struggling with multiple IT issues decide the best thing to do is invest more in IT. Unfortunately, while that's a sound strategy, too many IT companies place that investment in staffing, which often leads to further complication.
Hiring more staff means more salary, employee benefits, office space and training. It will often take months to hire those employees, bring them on board and get them productive enough to make an impact. A better option is to outsource those skills to one of the IT companies in Miami that will deliver faster and better results. IT companies work closely to understand your critical business needs and can recommend, deploy and configure solutions quickly that have an immediate impact.
Investing in IT is a smart move, but where that money is invested makes all the difference.
When Should We Look to IT Companies in Miami?
Companies face many questions about when to switch to outsourced IT. A recent Forbes article noted some of the core moments when outsourcing makes sense, including when:
- There's a keen understanding of the economics of your business and your IT costs
- Outsourcing will improve your business with minimal disruption
- The IT in question is not a core competency for your business
- Outsourcing frees up internal IT staff and other employees to work on other high-impact or high-value initiatives
- Your company has streamlined and optimized internal processes
- IT advances are not a differentiator from your competition
- Scaling your business is necessary now or shortly
- System complexity overwhelms your staff
If any of these reasons apply to your business, it's time to start looking for IT companies in Miami.
Can IT Companies in Miami Address Recurring Issues?
Many businesses seek out managed IT because they no longer can manage the complexities of system integration, software optimization, continual service interruptions and unreliable network services.
These issues can vex small- and medium-sized businesses but are common issues faced by many IT companies in Miami. An outside perspective and analysis are often precisely what's needed. With a proven managed service provider, you can identify the most critical operational or security issues facing your IT and expect sound, cost-effective solutions that resolve the problems quickly and thoroughly.
How Can My Company Plan for Future IT Needs?
Often, IT budget planning is at best an educated guess. That's one of the main reasons to engage with a proven IT company.
Your IT services provider can act as a virtual CIO, learning about your company's business goals and short-term strategies. The right IT partner has the insights, product knowledge and forward-looking perspective on technical advances that can have a profound impact on your business.
Working with your IT partner, you can develop the right technology roadmap for near-future needs and create a budget that supports the adoption of anticipated tools and services. One advantage of having a managed IT services provider is the predictable monthly cost for your IT monitoring, maintenance and support. That predictability helps to budget with confidence and account for planned growth.
The roadmap serves several functions. First, it helps you plan for the hardware, software, cloud services and security you'll need. Second, it can align your technical budgets and ROI with stated business goals and objectives.
Do I Want to Manage Another Technology Vendor?
Vendor management is complicated, especially given the interrelated functions of software programs and hardware. With a managed services solution, however, you can reduce your vendor management to one.
Let the managed services provider oversee your other IT vendor relationships. The right partner ensures that all IT vendor contracts are coordinated to address deliverables, warranties, support functions, service level agreements and upgrades. Your managed services provider can provide you with assessments of vendor responsiveness, value and quality.
Funcshun is a top Miami-area provider of managed IT services, cloud services, managed security services, and web design and hosting. Funcshun serves small- and medium-sized companies and Fortune 500 enterprises alike. To learn more about how Funcshun can help your business, contact us today.