Managed IT services have investment benefits, most of which relate to cost savings. If well implemented, these services act as a good tool for achieving corporate goals. A recent IBM report found that most organizations’ most significant challenge is matching their resources with the right people, making it difficult to execute their corporate strategy. It’s the priority of every firm to ensure that its talents focus on using the available resources to focus on the core areas of operation to optimize productivity.
The International Data Corporation says that firms stand to save $400,000 for every 100 users if they embrace and implement managed IT services. This article explores the specific financial benefits of managed IT that accrue to companies that utilize managed software solutions and other IT managed services.
1. Increases user productivity
Firms that haven’t yet embraced technology in their daily operations can’t do much in productivity. Even when such an organization perceives itself to be doing well, such performance can’t match that of another similar business that’s technology-oriented.
It should be optimized where technology is used to the extent that there are minimal unplanned downtimes so that the business doesn’t suffer loss. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), such downtimes result in losses of $58,118 per 100 employees. Server downtimes result in every employee losing approximately 12.4 hours per year. But the implementation of Managed IT services cuts down the downtimes and server errors by over 85%.
2. Reduces infrastructure expenses
Managed IT Services entail enlisting a third party to provide IT infrastructure to the organization. That means that you’ll downsize on the number of data centers and the amount of infrastructure on-site as an organization. You get to save both on the cost of buying and maintaining the hardware and the energy.
Other additional savings include consulting, training, and licensing of the infrastructure. Using a single provider ensures streamlined and well-managed workflows that are void of rampant downtimes.
3. Enhances IT staff productivity
In organizations that aren’t taking advantage of IT Managed Services, their IT staff is usually preoccupied with solving technical issues such as malfunctioning equipment or user issues. They spend little time doing productive work that’s expected of them.
These hitches have a trickle-down effect, and by the end of the financial year, the business finds that it’s not achieved all its goals. That’s to be expected given that most of the time, the IT staff focused off on the core duties and responsibilities that wasted their productive time.
When the responsibility of having to worry about such side issues shifts to another provider, the team gets the time needed to perform the functions they’re hired to do. Also, the organization will bypass the need to hire more staff to cover up the loss of time on the side issues. Cumulatively, this translates into a 42% increase in the productivity of the IT department, according to a recent report.
4. Access to top-level expert support
When an organization starts, one of the problems it’s likely to experience is a lack of enough capital to hire top-level professionals to run its operations. Consequently, hiring few and less qualified IT staff means they’ll spend a lot of time-solving IT problems instead of focusing on productive tasks.
Managed IT Services offers the perfect remedy for this problem. The third-party provider takes over the pains and struggles of ensuring there are no unscheduled downtimes.
5. Requires small initial investment
Managed IT Services avails the opportunity for firms to overcome gaining access to efficient and functional IT solutions. When starting out, financial capital tends to make it hard for firms to invest in technology infrastructure. However, the inability to spend thousands of dollars shouldn’t condemn ambitious startups to the use of substandard or inefficient technology that directly comprises the achievement of their set goals.
That’s where Managed IT Services come in to save the day. The firm can approach IT as an operational expense instead of capital expenditure, which is expensive both in hardware and human resource required to run the department. Once the firm entrusts its IT needs to enable third party provider, it only needs to incur reasonable recurrent expenditure.
6. Enjoy economies of scale
Managed IT Services means that as your business grows, your support structure gets to grow alongside it. It’s possible to either scale up or scale down your options with the provider through a simple agreement. If you’re looking for a flexible, that will expand and contract based on your business’s needs, Managed IT Service can offer that. Particularly during the early stages of business, you don’t want to be tied down to a single IT option that if it doesn’t work, then you’re stuck.
Summary
Managed IT Service is an approach that works both for small and large startups or established businesses. Making such a big decision of whether or not to go for this option requires critical analysis of your business. But if the benefits highlighted in this article resonate with your business, then it’s worth considering.
