No matter the size of the business, technology plays a critical role in its financial success. At the most basic level, companies have to deal with desktop and laptop computers for all their employees, e-mail, access to the Internet, Blackberries, and other kinds of on-site and remote devices. Add networking issues like viruses, spam and bandwidth utilization, and suddenly, this effort becomes a major challenge to anyone operating a small or mid-sized business (SMBs) with limited resources and a limited budget.
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Entrepreneurs and Managed IT: Putting 'Big Company' Strategies to Work for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
www.managedsystems.comEntrepreneurs and Managed IT: Putting 'Big Company' Strategies to Work for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses p2No matter the size of the business, technology plays a critical role in its financial success. At the most basic level, companies have to deal with desktop and laptop computers for all their employees, e-mail, access to the Internet, Blackberries, and other kinds of on-site and remote devices.
Add networking issues like viruses, spam and bandwidth utilization, and suddenly, this effort becomes a major chal-lenge to anyone operating a small or mid-sized business (SMBs) with limited resources and a limited budget.
In today's economy, small businesses' primary differentia-tor is service. If systems are down, then customer service levels are down too, ultimately hurting the business, the company's reputation and its bottom line.
This can make giving up control over critical information In a recent survey of small and mid- technology (IT) systems daunting. SMBs can learn from the Fortune 500 when it comes to letting someone else sized business (SMB) executives in the manage their technology infrastructure.
New York metropolitan area, the major- At its essence, "managed services" means subcontract-ing a process to a third party who handles all elements ity of said the U.S. economy was their of the initiative, from strategy to execution and managing it all along the way. This differs in a significant way from chief worry, with 94% saying they were outsourcing, which in many cases leaves it to the business owner to manage the project or issue. "extremely" or "somewhat" concerned
about the continued downturn. A recent Gartner report issued in June 2008 in conjunction with the analyst firm's Outsourcing & IT Services Summit cited IT managed service as a high-growth market, regard-less of the economy. In fact, in a survey focused on large According to Gartner, a leading companies such as Google and Microsoft, more than half (55 percent) said they plan to increase their IT spending technology industry analyst firm, with external service providers this year.
large companies such as Google So, what do large companies know about managed services that smaller companies don't?and Microsoft plan to increase their
IT spending with external service Where Does it Hurt?The threats facing SMBs are everywhere, from the providers this year. economy to larger competitors, to hiring and retaining the right employees, to finding and keeping the best customers.What do big companies know? When it comes to IT infrastructure, though, there are three big pains:
First, how does system downtime impact your company's productivity? Industry analyst firm IDC estimates that server downtime alone cost organizations roughly $140 billion worldwide in lost worker productivity and revenue in 2007. How often is e-mail down? How many times do employees have to re-boot to fix a problem? Can remote workers reliably and quickly access critical information on the home server? How much of the workday do employ-www.managedsystems.com ees spend surfing the Web for non-work-related activities? Entrepreneurs and Managed IT: Putting 'Big Company' Strategies to Work for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses p3
Second, how do business disruptions impact your ability to service your clients? Do you have the capabilities - and the bandwidth - to proactively monitor and manage your IT systems? Are your systems safe and protected? Can you look for signs of trouble before a breakdown that could negatively impact your customers?
And lastly, how much does IT really end up costing you? Do you have a full-time employee who handles everything? Or perhaps you use a contractor or small firm on an hourly basis. Is that cost predictable over time? Are you able to foresee and plan for upgrades and new equipment as new people join your firm or your company's needs change?
IT Managed Services: Benefits to Small and Mid-Sized BusinessesWhile there are no doubt many ways to quantify outsourcing IT, there are four key takeaways that are unique for SMBs:
Company Performance ImprovementsOne business axiom making the rounds is "Fake it 'til you make it." For an SMB, your customers expect - an... [download for more]
