IT support is an essential service for any business, providing assistance with network errors, outages, hardware faults and lost connectivity. For thousands of UK businesses, the big question is – how can they implement reliable, high-quality IT support without overspending?
The solution for many is outsourced IT support services, ideal for small and medium-sized organisations without the scope or capacity to employ full-time in-house teams or needing the advice and recommendations of expert IT technicians to help scale and grow their operations.
Jera, the Scottish-based provider of comprehensive Edinburgh IT services, runs through the advantages from a business perspective and shares insights into the added value a professional IT consultancy can provide.
The Importance of Capable IT Support
Technology moves fast, and companies need responsive, up-to-date IT infrastructures to concentrate on their core businesses. For example, an IT provider can assist with cybersecurity protection, current antivirus safeguards, data backups, replacing legacy hardware, recommending software upgrades and resolving issues with glitchy Wi-Fi connections.
Efficient computer networks are a core element of business success, introducing advanced functionality through customer relationship management systems, abbreviated to CRM, offering remotely accessible bookkeeping features for expense recording, and protecting business-critical digital assets from data breaches.
In-house IT support is absolutely an option, but it is often out of reach for SMEs since the cost of hiring a large enough team of IT professionals with a full scope of expertise is a significant expense. It is also necessary to consider cover for absences or holidays and investing in training to keep pace with new developments.
Outsourced IT support is the perfect balance between viable, affordable assistance and reliable help when needed, with a range of flexible packages to suit businesses of all sizes.
Benefits of Outsourced IT Support Services
The first and often most important factor for business owners is that outsourced IT can reduce business costs, with a fixed-price contracted service ensuring there are no surprises around the corner. Managed IT services can include a wide array of services, including:
- Access to remote help desks to address immediate problems.
- Proactive system checks and monitoring to identify bottlenecks or data overloads.
- In-person visits from a qualified engineer for systems servicing, maintenance and testing.
- 24/7 help in an emergency, with technicians able to log into devices remotely to identify the cause of the issue.
Making a few well-informed adjustments to your IT set-up may also reduce costs by replacing inefficient systems or security packages with more relevant solutions, removing any surplus subscriptions to firewalls or antivirus software that isn't sufficiently up to date, and crafting an IT strategy to find ways to improve productivity, introduce automation or make routine tasks quicker and easier for your workforce.
Flexible IT Assistance Around the Clock
Faults and outages commonly occur at the most inconvenient times, making access to IT assistance 24/7 an invaluable safeguard to get you back on track quickly. Outsourced IT support comes in various packages based on your needs and business size and can include emergency help day and night alongside systems monitoring and proactive maintenance.
We organise periodic engineer visits and updates as standard to prevent a vast array of issues. However, if disaster strikes, a remote team of IT specialists can diagnose the issue, suggest the fastest possible solutions, and restore your networks or systems, recommending ways to prevent the problem from recurring.
Access to a Full Range of Knowledge
On any given day, the Jera remote help desk might log support tickets related to a wide range of issues, channelling queries and problems to certified technicians and experts in specific types of software, hardware or database management who can find the solution quickly.
Rather than relying on one IT professional to have the skills necessary to solve every potential problem, an outsourced IT support provider has a full team of accomplished specialists and can refer you to the best person for the task.
This process also applies to consultations, where a business may need advice about the best way to transition from an outdated system to the next or wish to discuss the pros and cons of investing in a piece of hardware to help expand capacity.
Targeted IT Spending
Business owners working outside of the IT sector are rarely expected to have high-level knowledge of the ins and outs of every potential IT solution and often find that they spend more than necessary on a piece of kit that isn't necessarily the ideal option for their priorities.
IT support providers work closely with clients and work through your objectives and business plans to make tailored recommendations about the right ways to leverage IT to meet your targets. There are often ways to improve the ROI you achieve on the investments made in IT resources, ensuring every item of expenditure produces a tangible benefit.
Project-Specific IT Advice
There are literally tens of thousands of options whenever a business looks at IT assets, from routers to servers, remote working devices to Wi-Fi connectivity, call management solutions to data security software, desktop workspaces and backups.
Working with an outsourced managed IT support provider offers on-demand assistance from independent advisers who are there to help you pick the most suitable options for your business.
Consultants liaise with clients when embarking on new projects, onboarding new staff members or evaluating the potential of an expansion or IT upgrade, looking at ways to balance budgets with capabilities or ensure the resources they select are future-proof, secure, and appropriate for the sector they trade within.
Combined IT Systems Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Protection
IT support isn’t purely a service you call on when something goes wrong. Instead, it means you have a full IT team working in the background, maintaining and updating your systems, determining where there are potential issues developing, and backing up your records on a rolling basis.
Managed IT removes the stress and time pressures of dealing with outages or faults and ensures devices and systems are working correctly, with the peace of mind of a capable IT provider on hand to deal with any urgent issues as soon as they arise.
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About Jera
Jera provides fully managed IT support, cybersecurity services, telecoms systems, and IT strategy consultancy to businesses based in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and the surrounding areas.
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Source Company: https://jerait.co.uk
Original Source of the original story >> The Competitive Advantage of Outsourced IT Support Services
