Don’t make the mistake of assuming that you can ask one of your regular full-time employees to do that job that you would expect an IT company to handle—or to be more specific, that you need an IT company to handle. Even employees who are tech-savvy and seem to have a working knowledge of all the latest developments in virtual, digital, and cyberspaces might not be able to do the job as well as an IT company could. Instead of saving money, you could end up wasting it.
We completely understand that as a business owner you’re not looking to take on extra expenses. In some cases, large expenses might be out of the question. You’re not going to be able to bring on a full-time IT department dedicated to your business, no matter how nice that might be. You just count on those tech-savvy employees to handle the IT work for you.
However, outsourcing your IT needs to a contracted company could prove to be the best option. This way you get the benefit of professional expertise without hiring anyone new full-time. In addition, you take the pressure off your other full-time employees who, despite their best efforts and intentions, might be woefully underqualified to handle some of these problems for your business.
Why You Shouldn’t Count on Underqualified Employees
Let’s start by addressing why you shouldn’t assign IT work to underqualified employees. Even if they’re fairly efficient with technology and their intentions are good in stepping up to these responsibilities, IT work isn’t the sort of thing that you want to assign to somebody who doesn’t have the best training and most up-to-date knowledge.
Some business owners make the unfortunate assumption that IT work is all about setting up new software, installing updates from time to time, and rebooting your systems when they lag or fail. Sure, some of these responsibilities could easily be handled by a tech-savvy employee. However, this is hardly the extent of IT and a full-time employee’s time could be put to better use. You want your employees to be able to focus on the job you hired them to do—they shouldn’t have to be interrupted and distracted every time somebody’s computer goes on the fritz or your printer isn’t syncing up to the Wi-Fi properly. You could be losing hours of productivity every week while this is happening, all for a problem that doesn’t get adequately solved or ends up taking too long to solve. Something that might take the average tech-savvy person an hour to figure out could take an IT professional only five minutes. Meanwhile, your employee is falling behind on the workload you actually hired them to do. Your business is losing productivity and resentment could be building up among anyone who is called away from their regular tasks to handle something above their paygrade.
Why Outsourcing an IT Company Could Work for Your Business
“That’s a good point,” you might be thinking. “It’s not fair for me to expect my employees to do all this IT work that I didn’t hire them to do. But I don’t have the budget to hire a full-time IT person or staff an IT department. What am I supposed to do?”
The simple answer is to outsource. Just as you might outsource other aspects of your business, such as accounting or legal counsel, to contracted professionals, you can do the same thing with your IT needs. You get the power of a full IT department, with all of its resources and training, without having to hire anyone.
This is a smart move because technology permeates practically every aspect of your business. Computers, printers, scanners, phone systems, the internet, and so much more are all interconnected. If there’s something wrong with your network or operating system, you want somebody who can pinpoint the problem, fix it, and provide guidance on how to avoid it in the future.
Just as an accountant knows the intricacies of budgeting and tax law, an IT professional has in-depth knowledge and training. IT professionals also have access to the best resources when it comes to troubleshooting. Don’t forget that technology tends to be fickle and is constantly evolving. Unless somebody is staying on top of the latest developments, their tech-savviness could become outdated very quickly—but that’s not something you have to worry about with an IT professional.
Outsourcing your IT allows you to achieve your goal of staying within your budget (and NOT hiring a full-time tech employee) while letting your regular employees stay focused on the job at hand. Thus, this ensures your business gets the best in tech assistance without wasting anyone’s time.
If your company is in need of IT assistance, our team at Gryphon Consulting is here to help. Call us today at 301-789-1029.
