Although many businesses see IT support as a necessary evil, there are so many areas where IT support is incredibly valuable for small, medium and large enterprises. We think of it with the same joy as some people get from a great kitchen remodel. IT support brings creativity to your business systems, increases quality in software and information management, drives innovation across industries and provides security and peace of mind. IT support does all that? Yes, and here are some details.

Creativity

IT support now runs the full spectrum of service and infrastructure, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS). For those unfamiliar with the term, any time something is offered “as a service,” companies have the option of gaining access through the cloud to someone else’s infrastructure, programs and other technology related items. As Pablo Picasso is rumored to have said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

The foundation of your business’s creativity is not reinventing the wheel every time you need something done. That is the value of IaaS, SaaS (Software), cloud based data back-ups and more. Your business energy and creativity pour into the systems which make you great, and someone else’s creativity and genius go into making your normal systems great.

Quality

While quality systems are incredibly important, many businesses do not have the time, capital or energy to put the effort into managing all the information necessary for Total Quality Control. Since the fundamentals for building quality systems are information and data management and workflow planning, the right IT systems and support will create opportunities to build intense high quality processes, with the stress outsourced to your IT support.

Before we get into the other reasons we love IT support, here are some ways that creativity and quality grow in your business when you outsource your IT support and business systems:

• Email – Everyone loves free email systems, but for a business, “free email” quickly devolves into “my employees keep asking me for permissions to change their skins, and do 100 other things.” For businesses, free is often the best option when you have buckets of time and no money. For most businesses, a tailored email system makes more sense, because you realize that your time (and your IT team’s time) is money. Outsourcing email services gives you the ability to swiftly create custom email services (there’s that creativity) with a team of expert email IT professionals available to troubleshoot and further customize your business email (and the quality).
• Training – You can have the best software on the planet, but it is a waste of money if your employees do not know how to use it. Outsourcing your training gives you time to focus on how to integrate your customer, vendor relations and internal business systems, not spend your time convincing employees to use your newest product. Employees who understand and use your software properly free up their creative energy for other tasks, and also do things well.
• Disaster Recovery – If you have ever survived major data loss at your business, you know how much stress and thought processes are consumed by rebuilding your business systems. With an outsourced, cloud-based recovery system, you know that you have your information ready to go, and an expert recovery team to help your business continue operations as normally as possible minutes after a hardware crash.

Innovation

If you do not already see why we love IT support (and outsourcing) so much, think about how much innovation has been driven in various industries through the current IT as a service offerings. From Microsoft Office to Adobe Creative Suite, systems which formerly cost hundreds and thousands of dollars to even start are available at cash-flow prices. You pay for what you use, and cancel when you are done.

With so many people using advanced systems, innovation in industries is being driven from all corners, and an experienced IT support team will have regular contact with other leaders in industry innovation. Not only does IT support increase your business systems, it gives you access to other thought-leaders in your industry and in your target market.

Security and Peace of Mind

As back-up recovery promotes creativity and quality, so does the entirety of an outsourced IT security and recovery plan. Internal datacenters are one of the most likely points of entry for hackers and viruses. On the other hand, the same IT professionals who will set up your secure network, provide you with cutting edge virus protection and firewalls, can manage your datacenter in their own secure facility.

Having one team with the expertise and planning to build an entire safety, back-up and security system for your business from your keyboard to your customer’s computer screen is the cherry-on-top of the many reasons we love IT support. For more information about IT support, outsourcing, or IaaS plans, please contact us.