Why Start-Ups Need Professional IT Solutions
It’s not uncommon for start-up businesses to try to keep costs as low as possible, especially in the early days. To accomplish this, entrepreneurs often take a do-it-yourself approach to certain business functions. While this may work for some aspects of the business, IT is not an area where corners can afford to be cut. Instead, we highly recommend bringing in professional IT solutions, even if you’re a start-up.
Below are the top five reasons start-up businesses should strongly consider outsourcing professional IT solutions. This includes introducing IT consulting services, cybersecurity and ongoing technical support to your fledging business. And, this is especially important if your start-up includes more than a few employees.
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Access Breadth of Expertise
When you find a trusted partner to provide professional IT solutions, like a managed services provider (MSP), you can access a bench of experts, rather than one person with limited experience. Working with an MSP means a team of people – with a variety of skillsets – will support your IT needs.
This team should include an expert who can offer high-level IT consulting services to understand your business’ needs and make recommendations accordingly. You can think of this person as your outsourced CIO. Beginning the relationship with high-level consulting can ensure you receive only the professional IT solutions and services your company needs. This can help fledgling businesses avoid wasting money on unnecessary, ineffective and improperly structured IT services.
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Protect from Cybersecurity Risks
Cybercrime is on the rise, and no one is safe. Attackers target business of all sizes and industries. In fact, two in five small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have been the victim of a ransomware attack, and 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses.
Professional IT solutions from the right provider can help prevent costly cyberattacks. And, with the global average cost of a data breach at $3.9 million across SMBs, it’s critical that start-ups take cybersecurity seriously.
The right IT support provider will help protect your business with:
- Next-generation firewall
- Email spam filtering
- Virtual private network (VPN) for remote employees
- Security information and event management (SIEM)
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Advanced Threat Detection (ATD) and Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP)
- Vulnerability scanning management tools
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Ensure Business Continuity
Businesses can experience IT downtime for a number of reasons, including:
- Hardware failures
- Software corruption
- Cyberattacks
- Power outages
- Operator error
- Others
Downtime can result in a loss of sales, loss of data, logistical challenges and employees who are unable to work until the system is restored. So, can your start-up afford for your IT system to go down?
Professional IT solutions can provide preventative measures like a disaster backup and recovery plan, as well as a business continuity plan. These can help ensure that in the face of downtime, your data and information is safe, and your company can continue operating as usual.
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Better Ability to Budget
Professional IT solutions from an MSP that charges per-user can help a start-up better budget for expenses, as compared to taking a “break-fix” approach to managing IT.
With break-fix IT, you manage your hardware and software needs on your own. If something breaks or goes wrong, that’s when you’ll enlist the help of a professional. With break-fix, it’s likely you’ll run into more problems and face unpredictable charges for repairs, consultations and hourly labor.
On the other hand, with fully managed IT services, it’s easy to budget because you’re billed a set monthly rate without hidden charges or hefty fees. The added benefit is that MSPs work to identify potential challenges and threats to your IT systems and solve them before they disrupt your operations. This proactive approach that includes ongoing IT consulting services and technical support means better productivity and less risk of downtime.
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Establish a Foundation for Scalability
Finally, a top reason start-ups should budget for professional IT solutions is that it can set a solid foundation for scalability. A lot of change can happen for start-ups over a short period of time. This can include onboarding new employees, operational changes and shifting IT needs, just to name a few.
The right MSP partner will be able to proactively monitor the start-ups’ needs and adjust services as the company grows. Then, it will be able to easily add the appropriate IT solutions to protect from cyberattacks, minimize downtime and help maximize employee productivity.
