Are your IT systems working for or against you?
While many Australian SMBs may like to think their IT systems are working for them, this is often not the case.
Due to rushed adoption during the pandemic, mismanaged internal systems, and a lack of foresight in IT planning, many Australian SMBs are playing catch up with legacy tech not growing with them. As a result, in 2021-2022, Australian small businesses had the lowest growth rate in the Asia Pacific region, according to a CPA survey— a concerning indicator.
The good news is it’s not too late.
By taking advantage of the business IT support of managed services, SMBs in Australia can leverage personalised, agile, and resilient IT strategies to remain competitive and reactive to the changing market conditions.
Robust IT solutions are the foundation of future growth for Australian SMBs. However, companies experiencing growing pains from internally established systems are now sinking time and energy into these same systems that weren’t future proofed.
The importance of early and future-ready adoption cannot be overstated. Now is the time to invest time and money into an IT strategy devised and implemented by a professional service provider that offers unparalleled business IT support.
Some of the contributing factors to this necessity include:
WFH is here to stay: An employment hero report showed that 50% of remote or hybrid workers would consider quitting their job if a full-time back-to-office rule was imposed. Without appropriate collaborative tools, cloud solutions, IT support, and project management software to maintain a strong WFH structure, talented employees may feel disenfranchised and consider their employment options in more forward-thinking companies.
Employees expect updated systems: Employees of today expect access to collaborative enabling tools that allow them to do their jobs at an optimal rate. As a result, CEOs and business leaders must plan for tech investment in the context of a long-term game plan to retain talented staff and maintain a trajectory of continued growth.
Competition is fierce: SMBs that aren’t cloud connected but still looking to access benefits from data and digitisation are suffering from internal bottlenecks. Non-cloud solutions often require a VPN, involve a slower internet speed, and make data access a challenge—creating dead time, employee frustration, and forcing customers to look elsewhere.
Technology is set to facilitate new areas for growth in the Australian SMB landscape. However, Australian businesses must provide tangible tech solutions to locate, contract, and retain talented staff or risk losing a footing in this highly competitive space.
Some of the benefits of a robust IT strategy coupled with professional business IT support include the following:
Improve efficiency and productivity: A professionally administered IT plan should include strategies such as a professional helpdesk for quick IT solutions to resolve outstanding issues and zero-touch configuration for seamless upgrades.
Additionally, it can prepare businesses for automation, such as data entry, data-capturing, reconciliation, document creation, and management which are all ways to free up your team and reduce staff and leadership burnout.
Better customer experience: Managed service providers can create a plan that leverages data, customer relationship management insights, and analytics on behalf of small to medium enterprises to pinpoint customer behavioural trends and patterns to optimise their business offerings and marketing efforts.
On top of this, the capacity to track, measure and convert customers with cloud solutions will be crucial to business growth and meeting customer needs.
Next-level data security: The rate and sophistication of cyber-attacks and data leaks is growing thanks to bad actors taking advantage of the expanding digital landscape in the SMB space.
Managed small business IT services can prepare a comprehensive and future-proofed solution to SMB risks of malware, attacks, phishing, schemes, data breaches, and ransomware. This is achieved through the implementation of robust security solutions, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, endpoint protection, and employing encryption techniques to secure sensitive data both in transit and at rest. An IT strategy that prioritises privacy and data protection will safeguard against future reputational costs and losses in consumer confidence.
Agility and flexibility: An IT strategy can unlock valuable industry knowledge helping steer the IT ship on the right course. By factoring in emerging tech, productivity, and streamlined operations, businesses can drive growth thanks to informed decision-making on when to adopt new tech and how best to integrate it into business systems.
Scalability: By adopting cloud-based solutions, Australian businesses can circumnavigate the costs and complexities of onsite hardware and make real-time proactive decisions depending on company needs and market changes.
MSPs can facilitate collaborative workplaces that meet the demands of the contemporary SMB landscape—principally through cloud solutions.
A Forward-thinking IT strategy is the only way to guarantee the scalability and flexibility Australian SMBs will require in the future.
When a start-up wind farm with a team of three came to us to explore IT options in 2010, we provided a ground-up IT plan that included a hosted solution (which very much went against the conventional wisdom of the time).
Due to our understanding of the digital landscape, where it was heading and willingness to adopt new technologies, the wind farm now maintains seamless access to data across several locations. It has scaled to a team of over 300 employees who enjoy sustained growth and the additional benefits of collaborative tools in office 365.
Read the case study to discover how ground-up IT support and strategy can turbocharge your business.
Through a professional partnership with an MSP, Australian small businesses can prepare, implement and execute an IT strategy that allows them to stay ahead of growing trends in the industry, consumer, and technological landscapes.
To discover how our future-thinking IT solutions are helping Australian small businesses develop growth-focused IT strategies, reach out to the team to book a discovery call or get in touch with an inquiry today.
