Have you ever wondered why baseball coaches wear full uniforms? The answer goes back over a century and stems from the times when the manager actually took the field. Even as recently as 1986 Pete Rose organized the lineup and managed the pitching rotation while playing the field and taking at-bats for the Cincinnati Reds. Today’s game is much more segmented in terms of roles. The manager manages, the coaches coach and the players play. If only things were this simple for the owner of a small business.
Owning a small business means you need to be a jack of all trades, a chameleon of sorts. Handling the responsibilities of research and development, networking and sales, marketing and advertising, hiring and firing, bookkeeping and technology; it can be hard to focus and be efficient in any one of these categories. One of the most vital elements for a young or growing business is technology. It presents a world of opportunity, but also comes with its share of challenges.
There is no denying that technology has allowed smaller companies to compete with the large corporations. New tools, resources and corresponding lower entry prices are moving profit margins in the right direction. However, the volatile I.T. landscape means you can’t navigate it alone. According to Fuse Technology Group, 27% of small businesses have no I.T. support. Not only are these business owners missing out on opportunities to streamline their operations and positively influence their bottom line, but major obstacles like: data security, network processes and maintenance can pose serious threats.
So, why not hire an I.T. guy for your office? To start with the average salary for an I.T. manager is $123,000/year according to US News. This can be a massive expense for a small business, and more often than not, a return on this investment simply isn’t possible. A one-man, or even a small technology department can easily be bogged down in the day-to-day operations of: server maintenance, data backups, email issues, network problems and much more. With the responsibility of covering all things technology, your business lacks the specialization it needs to take full advantage of everything that is out there.
There is also the fact that an I.T. manager can get sick, will likely take vacation and not work on holidays or be available around the clock. So when you have a data emergency at 3am on Thanksgiving, or your network crashes on Easter morning, what do you do?
There is one simple answer that is making it possible for small business to leverage the experience, expertise and resources of a full-scale I.T. department, managed I.T. services. Managed services offers hands-on technology management at a fraction of the cost of hiring one I.T. employee. You can protect your precious data with on-site or off-site backup and untether your staff with cloud technology all without the massive commitment to new staff and upgraded infrastructure.
AtlasOne Technologies offers full turn-key solutions for small businesses. With a managed I.T. services partner, you can focus on what you do best, running your business. For more information on how AtlasOne can meet your technology needs, visit our manage services center today.
