Why Your Small Business Needs An IT Resource

When you’re first setting up a small business. Your IT needs tend to focus on the basic hardware and software your need to get up and running. It’s often left to the most ‘techie’ of your employees to sort out. 

As time goes on, the lack of a coherent IT strategy and resource can have serious consequences for your business. Here’s why you need to ensure that you have the right resources on hand. 

What do you mean by IT resource

Relying on Dave in the sales department to run your IT system because he’s ‘good with computers’ is not the way to run your business. Dave has another job to do and he’s not doing it when he’s trying to fix the printer or trawling the internet looking for good deals on laptops. 

Depending on the size of your business and the complexity of your IT needs, you could opt for managed IT services or an internal resource. 

Strategic planning

Your IT needs to scale with your business needs. It can be expensive and time consuming to try and bolt on additional resources at short notice. You run the risk of your systems not being able to keep up with your business demands, which could affect productivity and income. 

Having access to someone who can plan, cost and implement your system upgrades is invaluable. 

Cybersecurity 

It’s the high profile cybersecurity breaches that you hear about on the news, but the fact is, small businesses are at higher risk than larger companies. If you have no cybersecurity protection in place, then you become an easy target for hackers. The fallout for your business could be catastrophic. 

In fact, most small businesses are forced to cease trading in the months following a significant cyber attack. 

You need a professional to assess your systems, design and implement a robust cybersecurity policy. 

Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to: 

• Insider threats – where employees, ex-employees and others with access to your IT system access sensitive information. 
• Phishing attacks – prompts users to click on a suspicious link by pretending to be from a colleague or other contact. 
• Ransomware – bad actors access and encrypt sensitive company data so that it cannot be accessed. They then request money in order to decrypt the data. 
• Weak passwords – many people are guilty of using easy to guess passwords and using the same password for everything. If one system is compromised and passwords revealed, it can be used to access all the other accounts that use the same password. 

Save money by using a managed service

The popularity of cloud computing and SaaS has made it possible for smaller businesses to compete on a level playing field with larger companies when it comes to IT. 

There are advantages to having your own in-house IT team, but this comes at a cost. In addition to the recruitment, salaries and benefits needed for each member of the team, you also need to factor in the cost of professional development and keeping their skills and knowledge at the right level for your business. 

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