When choosing the best IT support solution for your business, it might feel like the decision primarily comes down to budget: can we or can’t we afford dedicated IT support? But it’s not nearly that simple anymore, because while NOT investing in IT support may feel like a cost-savings, there are many hidden costs that also need to be considered.
Here is an overview of what’s driving the hidden costs of poor IT management, and just how costly they can be.
Unplanned or Unbudgeted Repairs
The most obvious cost factor for any business that relies on technology (which is now everyone) – but isn’t relying on dedicated IT support – are the repair costs. Because like it or not, when you use technology it inevitably breaks down and needs to be fixed.
This traditional “break-fix” model might have worked a few decades ago when businesses weren’t nearly as dependent on technology for, well, everything. But calling an IT professional in for an emergency fix after something breaks isn’t efficient, and it certainly isn’t helping you to stay operational.
The trap here is that may still seem to cost less than either hiring an in-house IT professional or entering into an agreement with an IT firm, but let’s look one level deeper at that assumption.
First, when you hire anyone – a plumber, a mechanic, an HVAC tech, or an IT pro – on an emergency basis, you’re already up against it.
Maybe you have to pay a higher hourly rate (or maybe you get lucky and you don’t) or you have that 2-hour minimum charge to contend with, even though it only took 15 minutes to resolve. Either way, while you wait for the fix, you’re out of commission in some way.
When your technology breaks down, the result is downtime…and downtime means lost productivity, lost sales and even lost customers.
Second, if you’re having various issues fixed only after they occur, you end up treating them as isolated incidents. And then you risk overlooking or ignoring the real source of the issue.
For example, if you have your “computer guy” coming to the office every other week or so, working on a different piece of hardware each time, what you’re not getting is a 360-degree, strategic view of your network that would reveal the root problem.
So now you’ve applied a bandage and gotten your sales team back to work, but how long until it happens again? Because the underlying issue will manifest itself again, resulting in more downtime, and another costly onsite repair.
(Whereas if you evaluated and treated it at the source – with a Managed IT solution – you could make sure it stops happening at all!)
Third, are you really saving money, or does it just feel that way because you aren’t committing upfront to a monthly investment?
If you can’t predict what’s going to break when, then there really is no way to budget for what you’re going to be spending. It could be less than you thought, but it also could be a whole lot more. And even if it is the latter, you still must pay it to get back to business.
More than likely you’re not saving a significant amount of money, but what you are doing is giving up any control over the timing of the expenses and how the money gets utilized.
Maybe there’s a month where you don’t have any IT expenses, but quite possibly there are a few others where it’s triple or quadruple what you “expected”. Those fluctuations are difficult to manage from a cash-flow perspective, and provide no guidance or useful fiscal insights for the future.
But even worse, you’re spending that money just to patch things up, not to make meaningful upgrades or improvements. What you’ll likely find is that for the same investment, you could get better security, more uptime and valuable upgrades.
Inability to Upgrade
Older technology can cost you in a variety of ways. First, it slows down – and frustrates — your team. Trying to stretch out another 6 or 12 months might seem like the safe bet, but not only is this slowing you down and creating a stressful environment, it is more than likely also preventing you from utilizing newer, better features that are only available on a modern network.
You can’t run Windows XP and expect your team to be able to seamlessly and securely share files while working from anywhere!
Over time, all hardware needs to be replaced for both security and performance reasons. And the hidden cost to your team if you aren’t providing them with modern tools and apps is lost time and maybe even lost opportunities.
With reliable, professional IT Management you get a partner that will work with you to plan ahead, keep your technology up-to-date, and stay competitive using all the modern tools available to you.
On the flip side, poor IT management costs you time, employee morale, and ultimately erodes the value that you bring to the table for customers and results in customer churn. Because if you can’t meet the modern consumer’s demands due to your outdated technology, they’ll move on to a business that can.
It’s a Barrier to Productivity
Staying competitive in business today means maximizing any – and every – advantage you can. Modern technology can provide a major productivity boost to your operations, your team, and your customer interface.
However, poor IT management can also be one of your biggest productivity killers.
And when it comes to keeping pace with modern technology, if you don’t have a skilled IT team running point on this, you’re missing out on making the most of tools that can help your staff to work smarter, stay flexible, and provide the service level that the modern customer has come to expect.
And don’t forget the frustration and stress that is created when your technology doesn’t perform well – it might seem benign, but it can feed into a lack of motivation and culture of negativity that prevents your team from working at high levels. This is particularly troublesome for remote team members or employees who are on the road a lot.
Bad IT management can cost a business more than you may think as a result of lost time, lost opportunities, and lost value.
Contact Nauticon at 240.499.2546 so we can take IT worries out of your hands.
