Maintaining a solid IT infrastructure capable of supporting new technologies that enterprises will adopt in the coming years is no simple task. Today’s networks are always evolving and becoming more complex, often spanning across both mainframe and virtual environments all while accommodating hundreds of devices at any given time.
A company always has the option to add these responsibilities to the already busy to-do list of its IT team, but this rarely results in consistently better service both internally and externally. Instead, many companies choose to outsource some or all of their IT operations to a trusted partner, enabling them to optimize their IT without having to invest heavily in expanding their in-house team or overhauling their entire networking infrastructure.
This partial or total outsourcing is referred to as Managed IT Services, and it can be a great option for companies looking to get the most out of their IT without over exhausting their internal team. But before further exploring the benefits of this approach, let’s run through what can go wrong when a company elects to stretch its in-house IT team too thin.
The Risks of an Overextended In-House IT Team
An understaffed IT team is almost inevitably going to result in persistent network connectivity problems for end-users. This is not only because a shorthanded team won’t be able to address each and every problem as it arises, but because it’s a short-term approach to operating an IT team.
When the members of a company’s IT team are significantly overworked, they spend so much of their time scrambling to close support tickets on a day-to-day basis that they lack the bandwidth to notice, diagnose, and address larger, more overarching problems. At a certain point, employees tend to become frustrated with persistently sub-par IT systems and start engaging in “shadow IT,” or the use of IT systems that are not explicitly approved by the company’s IT authorities. If a company is lucky, widespread shadow IT will not only increase employee productivity (people tend to accomplish more when their technology runs smoothly), but drive creativity and innovation, as well. The problem, however, is that unauthorized, unsupervised processes can expose a company’s networks to serious security risks and data compliance issues.
This should be a major concern for any company’s IT team. Research indicates that the annual global cost of cybercrime will be over $6 trillion in 2021. According to one study, the average cost of a corporate data breach currently stands at around $3.6 million, a figure that can rise as high as $150 million in some circumstances. Needless to say, it’s crucial that an IT team isn’t overworked so it has capacity to protect your organization from potentially costly breaches, but sometimes opening up capacity isn’t an option; which is where there is a great benefit to managed IT services.
The Benefits of Managed IT Services
Managed IT services empower companies to engage in better, more mature IT operations without having to cover all of the background costs needed to push beyond simple connectivity troubleshooting. They can provide that extra layer of technical support and management expertise to ensure your IT infrastructure is operating at its fullest potential. Often times they can also provide recommendations for software updates and hardware replacement as well as formulate long-term technological strategies to achieve your unique business goals. In short, managed services provide companies with all the benefits of having multiple expert engineers at their disposal at a far lower price-point than the payroll for such a well-qualified full-time staff.
When it comes to selecting the right managed IT services provider to meet and exceed your needs, experience and reliability are imperative. At BerganKDV, our expert managed services team has been helping clients solve their technology challenges for years. If you are curious to learn more about the benefits of utilizing a managed service provider, we would be happy to assist. Contact us at any time with your questions.
