Growing businesses who attempt to manage their IT in-house often neglect critical cybersecurity monitoring and strategic infrastructure planning.
If you own a business in Indianapolis, you’re in good company, as thousands of entrepreneurs say this city is the best place for starting a business and have made their way in this commercial hub. But without an edge in modern technology and cybersecurity, Indianapolis businesses will likely fall short against their competitors.
If your business doesn’t currently have the adequate in-house resources or time to maintain a healthy IT infrastructure, you could be missing out on many benefits that could propel your company forward in the coming year. With the help of a Managed IT Services company in Indianapolis, you can ensure you maintain a competitive edge in IT so your business can continue to grow.
Take a look at these five signs that your business needs to hire an IT company in Indianapolis:
1. You’re Lacking an Adequate Cybersecurity Plan
Businesses in corporate centers, such as Indianapolis, face numerous cybersecurity threats that are both dangerous and costly. In fact, cybersecurity threats cost U.S. businesses $2.7 billion in 2018 alone. And the monetary damage is just one consequence—your customers will also lose trust in your company, further costing you money and even forcing you to close if you lose enough business.
Typically the most expensive threat businesses face is ransomware, a kind of malware that can lock your company’s computers and keep files from your staff until you pay a specified amount of money—the ransom—to regain access. But that’s not the only cybersecurity threat businesses face.
There’re also phishing attacks, where cybercriminals email their victims pretending to be someone they trust—such as a bank—to trick them into giving them usernames, passwords, bank account numbers and other sensitive information. Though email is the most common method, cybercriminals also victimize Indianapolis businesses by phishing through fake websites and voicemails.
In fact, phishing is one of the main causes of data breaches. In 2015 alone, over 250 Indiana businesses reported data breaches that affected thousands of customers. With these kinds of attacks increasing across several business industries, it’s imperative that you do whatever it takes to protect your business from these sophisticated cybersecurity threats.
Most in-house IT specialists simply don’t have the time or resources to ensure continual monitoring of your IT’s cybersecurity. That’s why many companies are turning to an IT service company in Indianapolis to manage their cybersecurity. These companies can strategize a cybersecurity plan that continually updates to protect against new threats and monitor your systems to ensure vulnerabilities are always being patched.
2. Your IT Specialist is Overwhelmed Trying to Manage Your Infrastructure
Perhaps you have an in-house specialist dedicated to managing your IT, but he or she is having a difficult time keeping up with all the needs of your IT infrastructure. There’s much to manage when it comes to a business’s IT, including networks, storage, security and more. Having just one specialist to manage all of this is especially concerning if you plan on growing your business, as you’ll eventually need a much bigger team and greater resources to adapt your technology to your expanding needs.
With one IT specialist, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with critical updates and the latest advancements in the technology industry. Assigning all IT responsibilities to one person means he or she must focus on the most urgent IT needs and issues, rather than planning for the future to prevent cybersecurity threats and performing regular maintenance on your systems.
If you’re worried about the cost of hiring a whole team, know that if you choose the right IT managed service company, you could outsource your IT for the cost of as little as one employee salary. This ensures you have access to a fully-equipped team of IT professionals when you need them without going over budget. Managed service providers also make it their job to frequently update their teams on the latest IT education and industry knowledge, ensuring your business has access to the most recent upgrades and security developments.
3. You’re Spending Too Much Time Troubleshooting Technology
If you’re like most Indianapolis companies, you depend on technology every day to perform both basic and advanced business operations. While you will inevitably experience some technological issues and hiccups, frequent IT problems take valuable time away from your regular business duties and lead to longer periods of downtime, which can have a huge impact on your business’s growth and success.
If you’re experiencing frequent issues and relying on one IT specialist or even non-IT staff to fix them, you don’t have the resources you need to maintain a smooth infrastructure. What’s more, non-IT staff may apply incorrect fixes that could worsen the problem and cause even more serious issues.
At that point, you’ll have to scramble to hire an IT professional anyway, which can wreak havoc on your expected budget and timeline for finishing projects. That’s why it’s best to hire an IT service company who you can rely on to apply the correct solutions and proactively prevent future issues from occurring in the first place. Outsourcing your IT allows you and your staff to focus on regular business operations while your provider handles all IT-related tasks and improves them for greater efficiency.
4. Your Network Infrastructure Can’t Keep Up with Your Growing Business
As your business grows, certain needs will grow along with it. For instance, you’ll need a larger IT support staff that can handle a growing infrastructure. After all, as you expand your staff, you’ll need more computers, printers, data servers, phones and other systems. This means you’ll need more IT professionals on hand to install, repair, upgrade and replace equipment, as well as ensure your infrastructure is scalable for future growth.
If your current IT specialist is solely focused on putting out IT fires each day, there’s little room for him or her to develop a plan for how your infrastructure will adapt to your growing business needs. This can be detrimental to your business’s potential success, which is why hiring an IT service company is key if you want to have a plan for your IT’s future. At AxiaTP, for example, the group or “pod” assigned to your business will include a vCIO, or a Virtual CIO (Chief Information Officer), which acts as a third-party consultant to strategize according your business needs.
5. You Have No IT Strategy, Much Less One That Aligns with Your Business Goals
Finally, your Indianapolis business deserves access to an IT team that will create and carry out a strategic plan that details how it will use technology to keep the business growing and succeeding.
While many companies who manage their own IT in-house have no IT strategy at all, a reliable IT company in Indianapolis will oversee an IT strategy that will align with the goals of your growing business. This means they create a strategic plan that takes into account the current and future needs of your company as it grows. They will also make sure your business has access to the tools it needs to increase productivity and efficiency, and ultimately reach long-term goals.
Generic IT services are no longer cutting-edge enough to keep your business ahead of its competitors. You need customized solutions from an IT service company that truly knows your business.
At AxiaTP, we understand that every business is unique and therefore requires unique IT management. If you recognize any of these signs in your business’s IT operations, contact us today to learn more about how we can provide you with top-rated IT managed services.
