At Tolar Systems, we recently revamped the way we offer some of our services. Our core offerings around Managed IT, cybersecurity and voice communications – Complete Care, Complete Security and Complete Voice – will remain the same. But we’ve made some changes to our other offerings to support two other areas that we believe are important to the businesses we serve. These include Strategic and Supplemental IT services.
Here’s how Supplemental IT services can help midsize and larger firms that don’t need a fully managed IT service approach, to extend their IT capabilities.
Small IT Departments, Big Challenges
A common refrain we hear from midsize and larger firms regarding IT managed services is that they already have an IT team on staff and therefore don’t need a fully managed IT approach. However, they also frequently tell us that their teams are overworked, which can make it difficult to accomplish strategic objectives such as researching or purchasing new solutions.
In fact, 35% of IT professionals in a recent survey said that they worked 50 or more hours per week. This can be costly when you consider that many of these professionals are hourly employees who are required to be paid time-and-a-half for every hour worked over 40 hours. Overworked teams are also less efficient and more likely to miss details that could lead to problems with IT.
Overwork can even be a recruiting issue when businesses are unable to provide sufficient time off for vacations, personal issues or to pursue professional opportunities.
These challenges exist because small IT departments do it all, from providing help desk support to researching and delivering higher level strategic advice, to managing projects and keeping strategic initiatives moving forward. Through it all, the team also must keep current with the skills and knowledge needed in a constantly evolving IT landscape. Not to mention, finding time for themselves.
With so many competing priorities, it’s difficult to find time for everything team members need to do. Fortunately, Tolar’s Supplemental IT services make it easy for small IT teams to find the resources they need. It’s like having more hours in the day. Here’s how it works.
Get Help When You Need IT
When you find your team short-handed or even when you just need a little extra help to accomplish a strategic project, Tolar Systems can assist with staff augmentation to support your team members. We can fill in on a consulting basis while employees take vacations, recover from an illness or maternity, or while they attend conferences or training seminars. We can even fill in when a valuable team member leaves suddenly, until you’re able to replace them.
Tolar Systems also offers issue escalation, for when an IT challenge overwhelms or stumps your team. We can provide these services in-house in your location, or we can assist with business processes such as help desk remotely from our office, depending on your needs.
Leverage Our Resources to Save Money
As a managed service provider, we have developed special relationships with a variety of IT vendors and have access to resources and pricing structures that are not always available to small IT departments. Some of those relationships and resources include:
- Technology Resales and Purchasing – We have vendor relationships that can save you money when it comes time to purchase or replace older equipment.
- Remote Network Monitoring and Maintenance – Our remote monitoring tools can help your organization save time and be more efficient by identifying problems before they happen, and if you need a hand, we can even manage the maintenance and repair. Server patches, monitoring, backup maintenance and firewall maintenance are also areas we can handle to lighten the load for your team.
- Outsourced Security Monitoring and Response – Cybersecurity is one of the biggest causes of downtime for IT departments today. We provide access to security monitoring and response tools that can make your job easier, while protecting critical data.
If your in-house IT staff is struggling to keep up in any of these areas, contact Tolar Systems today. Let us help free your team members and lighten their loads, while making IT a more strategic asset for your business.
