In today’s fast-moving digital world, small businesses can often get left behind. Big players employ large IT teams to keep things running and make decisions that ensure staff have the right tools to be productive and efficient. 

But with small businesses and start-ups, it’s often the business owner or a key staff member who becomes the ‘go-to’ IT person. And they often end up bogged down with fixing IT issues instead of focusing on what they do best – growing the business. 

The good news is there’s an easy and effective small business IT solution to this problem – outsourcing. 

Why outsourcing means great support for your business 

Sometimes people confuse ‘outsourcing’ with ‘offshoring’, and all its negative connotations. But in this context, ‘outsourcing’ means using a Managed Services Provider (MSP) for small business IT support.  

MSPs provide proactive support for on-premise servers and IT equipment, management of cloud services such as Office 365, hardware and software procurement, anti-virus and cyber security, and access to a helpdesk. Some MSPs also offer IT strategy consultancy to ensure your company is on the right path.  

The benefits of outsourcing as a small business IT solution include: 

• Access to IT expertise If IT isn’t your speciality, you’re not going to be aware of every tool and app out there and which ones would best fit the needs of your small business. Having professional advice means you’ll be introduced to different technologies that could boost your company’s productivity and efficiency.  
• Peace of mind about security With so much data being generated, security is vital – not just to meet privacy regulations, but also to protect your company’s reputation. IT experts are best placed to help you put the right security measures in place.
• Access to a help desk That way your staff can get fast solutions to their IT problems. 
• Access to extra resources Even companies that have their own IT staff are seeing the benefits of outsourcing – perhaps for sickness or holiday cover, or for extra resources for specific projects. Projects like moving to Office 365, for example, can be tricky without extra, expert help.

Things to consider when outsourcing

If you think outsourcing IT would work for you as a small business IT solution, there are a few things to consider as you choose your IT partner: 

– Make sure the MSP has sufficient resources to offer the support level your business requires. 

– Make sure the MSP has expertise and familiarity with the technology your business uses. 

– Make sure there’s a cultural fit between your business and your MSP and that you trust them to give you the best advice and support for your business. 

– Make sure they’re interested in getting to know your company and how you work. 

– Make sure their IT small business support includes an out-of-hours service for emergencies. 

How IT Smart Solutions can help 

When it comes to IT small business support, IT Smart Solutions have a wealth of experience, having been looking after SMEs in Sydney since 2005. We offer the following: 

• Modern workplace transformation We’re experienced in helping small businesses make their modern workplace journey by adopting new technology and cloud solutions 
• Helpdesk We offer a full–service desk between 8am and 8pm Monday to Friday, with emergency out-of-hours support outside those hours. And we have lovely staff! 

The IT Smart Solutions onboarding process begins with an onsite visit from one of our senior engineers, who will spend a few hours getting to know your systems and documenting your set–up. Then our helpdesk team is given access to high–quality documentation that enables them to offer efficient support to your users. Usually, there is also a discussion with a senior engineer in relation to any improvements that might be recommended or any security issues that IT Smart Solutions feel need addressing.

Check out our solutions

Interested in finding out how we can provide a small business IT solution to your company’s IT pain-points? Get in touch, or download our managed service product brochure to learn more about what we can help with.