As time and technology progresses, more and more companies are moving towards using managed IT service providers rather than hiring full-time employees. But what are some of the key signs that indicate whether you need to use an IT provider?

While computer systems are a part of almost every company’s operations from processing orders and storing customer information to running websites and hosting a variety of software applications, your computer systems don’t always make it easy for you to run your business. Technical errors are likely to arise at any given time and having an expert on hand who can troubleshoot and solve your problem can be extremely valuable.

In this article, we’re going to discuss the top six reasons why you might need to hire a managed IT service provider.

1. You’re Spending Too Much on IT

Hiring an outsourced team of IT support can lower your expenses, it helps you efficiently manage them because it provides consistency in your month to month costs. You also get access to high quality, up-to-date skills for a lower cost. This could help you focus your company’s resources on revenue generating activities and grow your business. In this case, some IT companies can help you take advantage of a cost savings analysis.

As your designated technician gets to know your systems and processes, you can review your technology expenses (service contracts, hardware costs, repair expenses and repetitive issues) to help you reduce costs and streamline your processes. (Learn more about a cost efficiency analysis here.)

Have you had lots of temp workers? This is a sure sign that you might be understaffed and your business is growing faster than your hiring efforts can keep up with. By hiring a team of experts to manage your IT for you, you get a broad spectrum of services that can keep your costs under control and prevent minor or major problems that could slow your business production down.

At the same time, there are many variables that factor into your infrastructure needs, from the basics of your network, to admin passwords, knowledge on key applications, and not to mention the experience that an IT professional brings from past projects. You need an experienced professional to manage that so you don’t have to.

2. You Don’t Have the Expertise

With the time it takes to learn the new skills, it becomes difficult to move your business forward efficiently. This is when it might make sense to outsource your IT support. You need to stay laser-focused on growing your business and keep up with the day-to-day demands that improve your company. IT pros ensure that your organization is protected from major security threats at all times, you’re maintaining compliance with the appropriate regulations, and you’re implementing the right actions to streamline your business processes. IT experts can handle the troubleshooting, backups, software and hardware maintenance, and never-ending questions from your users.

3. You’re Unsure if You Have IT Security Risks (or Have Already Had a Breach)

What business systems are most important for your business? What is the likelihood of a threat to that system? If IT security is one of the most important issues in your business – and for most companies it is, regular audits will help you identify gaps in your infrastructure. As technology threats continue to disrupt many businesses, it’s important that you continue to maintain and improve your security to protect company and customer private data. If you don’t have the expertise to identify which attacks are most common and an IT strategy to prevent it, then your company could be in jeopardy.

4. You’re Task Oriented Not Strategy Oriented

There are many areas of IT that could be overlooked, one is strategy. As your business grows, risks like cyber attacks and threats increase. From the cloud, to data analytics, to network architecture, data access, internet strategy, and disaster recovery, there are many moving parts of your IT strategy. Strategy helps you uncover which areas to prioritize and grow, resulting in the greatest impact on productivity.

So when your IT professional is swamped with everyday tasks or lacks the skills to strategize, what do you do? Do you find that issues are falling through the cracks?

Don’t wait until something big breaks and your IT professional lacks the skills to fix it.

5. Your Users are Complaining About Not Being Able to Do Things in The Systems

Are you finding that your employees are spending more time dealing with IT issues than focusing on the job you hired them to do? Is your network performance too slow? Is it taking too long to get equipment installed?

These items are all clear indicators that you need a managed IT service provider to come in and help. That’s the flexibility with outsourcing! You choose the number of hours and days a week that an on-site technician works at your office, or you hire remote support to answer questions for your users so that you don’t have to. Either way, your users get the support they need to focus on their job, which helps you focus on running your business.

6. You’ve Lost a Key IT Employee

When you’ve lost a key IT employee that has been with your company for a long time – it hurts. Simple as that. They had the expertise to handle your tech support and network needs. In fact, they built the network. Finding a professional with that same knowledge and technical know-how can be challenging. With the skills shortage in IT talent, the decision to outsource becomes a better path to take. You get an IT professional who can quickly learn how to navigate your infrastructure, answer your employees’ questions, and solve critical issues fast. Therefore, in the event that their technician leaves the company, your support is not impacted as they know your infrastructure and can continue to handle all of your IT needs.

In Summary

These reasons indicate why you might need to hire a managed IT services provider. There are plenty of areas to consider to find the best solution for your business. Once you decide that you need to outsource, it’s important that you craft a solution and IT strategy that works for your business needs. As an IT support company, we’ve worked with a number of businesses and have heard it all which is why we know that the best results come from an internal and honest look at what IT support looks like in your company.