54% say they lack the time to prioritise cyber-security, and 37% say they lack proper staff training, according to recent research.
With the threat of data loss or a cyber-security breach looming large, IT teams in all sectors are under pressure to deliver an excellent ROI on their IT spending, stay current with new trends and innovate to achieve their organisational goals.
As the statistics show, this is a tall order!
Your IT network and systems are the backbone of daily operations, but what if they're hurting more than they're helping you? How can you tell when change is needed?
1) You've been surprised by your IT spending too many times.
IT sprawl can easily happen over time. Layer upon layer of new features are added to supposedly simplify things, but your monthly costs only seem to go up. Soon, you're paying extra every month for things like:
When you work with a managed services provider like SysGroup, the costs are clear up front, which means no surprises and hidden charges. You pay for the storage space you use and can quickly adjust to meet your needs. 24/7/365 support and infrastructure monitoring are standard when you choose services like managed IaaS or a managed virtual desktop platform.
2) Your team is fed up...and moving on.
Attracting and retaining talent is a common struggle for SMEs. Evaluate your team's daily workloads. How much time are they spending on frustrating maintenance tasks? When their skills are being used for tedious jobs or if their time is wasted when the network is down again, they'll start searching for greener pastures.
With an investment into managed IT services, you will retain employees whose specialised skills and creativity can shine...without the constraints of an unwieldy IT infrastructure holding them back.
3) You can't keep track of your emergency plan.
If you faced a data breach or cyber attack tomorrow, what would you do? Businesses with legacy IT networks often have 'legacy' disaster recovery plans too.
Cloud-based backups and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) take virtual snapshots of your data at regular intervals, storing your critical information in a secure, secondary location. If you're still relying on manual nightly backups, then a cyber attack could undo years of success in minutes.
Our disaster recovery plans involve a clear plan of action and frequent testing, so you can communicate your emergency plan to key stakeholders with confidence.
4) Troubleshooting eats up all your time.
Technology has changed business in every sector, from healthcare to education and retail. But that doesn't automatically make you an expert in cyber-security and cloud computing overnight! Fighting little fires from downtime, lost data, end-of-life hardware and security bugs can steal all of your attention, leaving little time for learning new skills or starting new projects.
Moving your infrastructure to a managed cloud environment or enlisting managed IT support services connects you to a wealth of experts in niche topics like hybrid cloud infrastructures or load balancing and network security. They become like an extension of your own team, focused on helping you to succeed by doing all the troubleshooting for you!
5) Your in-house IT is a mess.
Does the tangled mess of cables, boxes and switches make your blood pressure go up? Has the sheer volume of data outgrown your storage system? Inadequate memory space or restricted network bandwidth will hinder your business growth and limit your success.
A mis-matched IT strategy leaves you with no room to grow, and plenty of confusion too. Cloud-based infrastructure will not only streamline your physical hardware, it will 'declutter' the whole atmosphere of your business! File-sharing, user authentication, security updates and backup become automated tasks monitored by our team, so you can shift your focus to projects where your unique skills are put to use.