Let’s start at the beginning. In a baseball game you can’t call for a “double switch” if you’re still learning in which direction to run the bases. The same is true for running a small business. A fitness expert or athletic trainer, even with all of their knowledge, can’t be thrust into Game 7 of the World Series and expect to successfully manage a roster. For a small business, each day is a Game 7. But instead of managing a roster of elite athletes and implementing a strategy to move 90 feet at a time, a business owner manages operations, employees, inventory and service. So while your expertise in selling insurance, running a medical practice, building homes or anything other business endeavor is unmatched; handling the technology that businesses require in today’s market may be another story.
CIO Magazine reported in 2013 that businesses spent an average of 5.2% of their annual revenue on technology. What is very surprising about this statistic is that small businesses actually outspend large companies (in terms of revenue percentage) on IT. The average small company (less than $50 million in revenue) commits 6.9% of their revenue to technology, while large companies (over $2 billion in revenue) spent only 3.2% on IT.
While the needs, compliance requirements, and scale of large corporations vary drastically from a small to medium sized business, the disparity in revenue allocation is eye-opening. The reason for the increased commitment from smaller businesses is that they attempt to handle IT in-house. Hiring IT employees, investing in infrastructure, and paying for network outages and other tech emergencies are large contributors to this bottom line burden.
The answer to this revenue syphoning, but vital, branch of your organization is managed IT services. But what does this actually mean? What does it actually do? Essentially managed IT services is the outsourcing of day-to-day IT operations. Typically for a low monthly fee your business gets the expertise and resources of IT professionals without the expense of salary, benefits and major IT investments. Leveraging the resources of a managed IT services firm does the following:
- Cloud Solutions
- Data Backup
- Network Security
- Little to no capital investment in software, servers, etc.
- Offers Compliance
These are only of a few of the advantages of entrusting your business’ technology needs to a group of IT professionals. Arguably the best reason is that instead of focusing your attention and money on IT, you can focus on doing what you do best, running your business.
AtlasOne Technologies is a Baton Rouge based managed IT services provider. With expertise across a variety of industries, their technology engineers hold certifications across a range of platforms. They offer cloud solutions, data backup, business consulting and an array of other IT services.
