Voted the start-up capital of the US, Texas is one of the best places to be an entrepreneur. It’s no wonder that thousands of businesses thrive each year in a state with the self-proclaimed Texan title of ‘Best Business Environment’.
In our bustling business hub, though, competition has never been so fierce, and now more than ever, efficient and secure technology is key for your future business success. If your IT specialist isn’t providing you with the best support and IT strategy, you could see your business fall behind in the sprint to success.
Here are five ways for you to know whether your current IT provider is taking your business to the next level or simply holding you back.
1. Your “IT Guy” or Department is Overwhelmed
Your dedicated IT specialist or department may be overwhelmed with trying to manage all the infrastructure of a growing business. As a business and add more complexity, from security to storage, one person cannot possibly manage all of your day-to-day business needs while still preventing data breaches, security threats, and potential downtime-causing issues.
As a business owner, it can also be overwhelming for you to consider upgrading to a full IT team for your developing business, with all the associated costs that more people provide. That’s why many Texas businesses in this situation opt to outsource their IT to a Managed Service Provider, or MSP. With Managed IT services you can outsource your IT for as little as one employee salary, and gain a stack of trained IT experts to manage your systems, the team’s IT literacy, and also foresee any upcoming errors or security threats. You can stay in budget and move all your concerns onto a team of established IT professionals.
2. You Don’t Have a Cybersecurity Plan In Place
If you do only have one overworked IT specialist or small team, it is nearly impossible for them to manage daily operations and foresee future threats. Yet, this has never been so important in Texas, with as many as 23 Texan government agencies recently being forced to go offline in August 2019 due to a targeted cyber attack.
The most common threat to today’s business owner is ransomware, where your systems are locked and a singular message asking for money will appear on your network system. Ransomware is on the rise, with as much as a 365% increase in business ransomware attacks seen between 2018 and 2019.
Turning to an MSP who provides cybersecurity for Texas business can reduce the risk associated with having one in-house specialist. By monitoring systems 24/7, they can see incoming threats or identify and fix unpatched systems before any data breaches take place.
3. Your Business Is Growing And Your IT Can’t Keep Up
Is your business growing, but your IT stagnating? It can be frustrating as a business owner to see your business expand, while your IT specialist is unable to keep up with increasing storage, systems and security needs. With an ever-increasing team, you will also need to ensure they have all the PCs, printers, phones, and IT support they need, without unplanned system downtime reducing productivity.
Your IT specialist might not have time to fire-fight IT issues, expand your infrastructure, and train your team on technology. Managed IT Services by Tolar Systems have long-term plans that include training users on systems all while expanding your infrastructure. You can enjoy your business expansion without worrying about keeping up with technology.
4. You Spend Too Much Time Fixing Frequent IT Issues
As a business owner in Texas, you know that to perform even the most basic business operations, functioning technology is key. But technology problems are the burden of most burgeoning businesses, and if you have one (or no) IT specialists, you may have a problem. If you have to face the inevitable and hire an IT expert, it can wreak havoc with your budgets, whereas outsourcing Managed IT Services for the same price from the outset can reduce the time associated with those frequent IT issues.
5. Your IT Strategy Doesn’t Match Your Business Goals
Do you find that you have ambitions to grow your business, but there’s no coherent IT strategy in place to grow your infrastructure? Your Texas business deserves access to its own IT strategists to help you develop your own tailored infrastructure strategy, and lay the groundwork right at the initial stage of growth, so your company can keep up. If you’re far along, they can also help put a plan together so you can get on the right track.
Hiring an IT specialist won’t fix the problem either, as most in-house experts will be more preoccupied with the daily grind of PC, printer and phone problems than the strategy of your IT infrastructure.
At Tolar Systems, we can create an IT strategy that’s right for you and that will see your business through all stages of growth. If you spot any of these signs, contact us today for a free consultation to find out what we can do for you and your business.
