13 Ways Managed IT Services Can Help Small Businesses Make or Save More Money

It’s easy to look at IT services (and most technology investments) as an expense. We’re not going to argue against that. Even in our own business, we know we need to pay a lot of money for hardware, software licenses, subscriptions, and internal labor, employee training, certifications, and a whole lot more just to keep things running smoothly for ourselves and our clients.

It also might seem a little funny that an IT services provider is talking about how IT services can help your business be more profitable. At first glance, that might feel sort of like a bakery telling you that donuts are the key to losing weight. 

But I have your attention so far, and it’s likely because you understand that modern technology is inherently designed to make you and your staff more effective and productive. It’s not designed to simply be an expense, and if you implement it properly and measure it, much of the time technology can be shown to help organizations do more in less time.

This article explores 13 ways these services can help small businesses save or make more money. 

Understanding Managed IT Services

Managed IT services are a form of IT outsourcing. They involve a third-party provider handling various IT tasks for a business. This is different from the traditional computer support services that you would call when something goes wrong. Managed IT services like those from Datalyst are IT solutions designed to help your business grow. 

The central idea behind managed IT services is that they turn your technology from an expense to something that actually drives profit and success.

What are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services are essentially a full-service IT department that you subscribe to. They take care of your IT infrastructure and systems. It’s like hiring an in-house IT department, except you aren’t responsible for payroll, bonuses, training, certifications, and all the other expenses that come with bringing on a new department and all new staff.

These services are proactive rather than reactive. They aim to prevent IT issues before they occur.

This approach can save businesses time, money, and stress. It ensures smooth and efficient operations.

The Value of Managed IT for Small Business IT

For small businesses, managed IT services can be invaluable. They provide access to expertise and technology that may be otherwise unaffordable.

These services can level the playing field. They allow small businesses to compete with larger corporations in the digital arena. Moreover, they can free up resources. This allows small businesses to focus on growth and innovation.

Here are just some of the typical types of technology services you can rely on from a managed IT provider like Datalyst:

• IT consulting, planning, and budgeting
• IT maintenance and network monitoring
• 24/7 Help desk support
• Cybersecurity and compliance
• Data backup and disaster recovery
• Cloud and offsite solutions
• Hardware procurement
• Software management, installation, and support
• VoIP and business communication
• Conferencing and hybrid solutions

Essentially, if it connects to the Internet, Datalyst can help your business maintain it and make it work.

Cost Savings with Managed IT Services

Managed IT services can lead to significant cost savings. They can reduce the need for in-house IT staff and infrastructure.

These services can also minimize downtime. This can save businesses from lost revenue and productivity.

Moreover, managed IT services can prevent costly repairs. They do this through regular maintenance and proactive support.

1. Reducing Downtime and Associated Costs

Downtime can be costly for businesses. It can lead to lost sales and damage to your reputation. At the risk of being very obvious here, when your technology goes down, your staff can’t work as effectively. 

Managed IT services aim to prevent downtime. We do this through proactive monitoring and support. Around 80 percent of technology problems have some sort of sign or warning. Workstations and servers keep error logs that our professionals can keep track of to detect these early signs and then solve the problems before they actually cause an outage. 

On top of that, regular maintenance like security updates and patches keep endpoints secure and running smoothly. Businesses that have a trusted managed IT provider like Datalyst tend to see fewer issues and experience downtime far less than those that don’t.

This can save businesses significant amounts of money. It can also ensure smooth and efficient operations.

2. Avoiding the Expense of In-House IT Staff

Hiring in-house IT staff can be expensive. It involves salaries, benefits, and training costs.

Managed IT services can be a more cost-effective solution. We provide access to a team of IT experts at a fraction of the cost. We equip our staff with expensive, complex, enterprise-grade software that is usually cost-prohibitive for most smaller businesses. That way, we can provide the high-end enterprise-level IT support, but the cost is broken up across our client base.

This can save small businesses significant amounts of money. It can also provide them with access to a wider range of expertise.

3. Accessing Advanced Technology Without Capital Investment

Investing in the latest technology can be expensive. It can also be risky, given the rapid pace of technological change. Like we mentioned above, we invest in expensive remote management software that is otherwise cost-prohibitive for most smaller businesses, and we’re able to break up the expense across all of our clients. 

We also have partnerships with some of the biggest vendors so we can get better pricing for certain services and software, or better support from vendors that are otherwise very challenging to work with.

Since we work with so many businesses with a wide variety of budgets, we can often help businesses navigate the complex world of business tech and help them get better pricing and more value.

4. Reduce and Optimize Your Internal IT Infrastructure

We run into this scenario pretty often. A business will have 30 or 40 workstations, and maybe two, three, or sometimes four servers. Each server will more or less have its own role and purpose on the network, but in most cases, any single server is rarely utilizing 20% of its computing capabilities. Often, this conversation comes up when the business is looking to onboard some new line of business software that requires a server to run on, and due to the requirements, it can’t just simply install on one of the current servers.

That’s a lot of infrastructure that is being underutilized.
While the results might vary a little case by case, we can generally reduce all of those servers down to just one (and a backup device, of course). It’s usually a larger capital investment at first, since you are combining multiple servers into a singular device, but when it comes time for hardware refreshes and server operating system end-of-life dates, suddenly fewer servers becomes enormously more cost-effective.

It saves quite a bit on the utilities too.

This is just one example, but we often find ways to simplify and optimize networks. Sometimes that means reducing hardware, reducing or bundling software, or adding/adjusting access points for better network coverage. While it doesn’t always mean immediate savings, it usually leads to more effective usage of the technology, and better budgeting for the long term.

5. Cloud/Hosted Resources

The concept of cloud computing has been around long enough that we probably don’t need to explain it, but the idea is that a lot of your computing doesn’t need to be handled on internal hardware. In some cases, many modern applications don’t even let you install them on premises anymore, and solely exist in the cloud. 

And for good reason. Cloud-based software and data storage tends to be a little more cost effective to run. The cloud provider can maintain everything on their end, and simply give you access to the software and services. It’s less to support, easier to keep secure, and generally lucrative for everyone involved.

Think of it like this: Netflix, which is essentially a cloud company that delivers movies and shows, doesn’t have to produce an inventory or ship DVDs to every corner of the Earth. That’s a huge portion of the traditional movie business that is entirely eliminated. In turn, they are able to focus more on producing more content and bringing on more customers.

The cloud is simply the new way of doing business, and it tends to allow more flexibility and more capabilities, especially for smaller businesses.

Enhancing Revenue through Managed IT

Technology isn’t just an expense. Its original purpose is to make you, your staff, and your overall organization more effective and productive. Technology can take complex or repetitive tasks and automate them, and allow you to accomplish more and communicate better. We’re all so used to needing computers and servers and other technology in the modern office that we’ve taken for granted just how much more productive this technology makes us.

IT can be a growth center and lead to more success and profits.

6. Better Communication with Modern Day Solutions

Communication plays a major factor in just about any industry. Being able to communicate quickly with your clients and prospects is important, but internal communication between your staff and various departments is just as crucial. Yes, there’s email, and yes, there are phones, but when everything works together in a closed-loop, ensuring that nothing ever gets lost in translation, communication is much more effective.

That’s where solutions like VoIP, and modern-day conferencing solutions come into play. Call recording, barging, and conferencing makes phone communication much more effective, and features like automatic transcripts, meeting scheduling, and reminders make sure everyone is always on the same page at the right time.

7. Better Decision-Making with Data Analytics

Most organizations collect a lot of data—or at least they should be. When you interact with a client or prospect, documenting the interactions is important. Organizing your contacts into lists based on their interests, demographics, and other parameters can help you make more sense of data and make better informed decisions.

To take this a step further, modern software and artificial intelligence can take massive amounts of this data and help you discover trends or make predictions that could lead to increased profits.

8. Streamline Operations with the Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is both a straightforward and confusing way to describe a broad range of devices and tools. By definition, any sort of device that connects to the Internet that isn’t a traditional piece of IT (like laptops, workstations, and servers) falls into the IoT bucket. This means a ton of consumer electronics are technically IoT, but there have been major leaps forward with business technology here too.

By now, most of us are familiar with at least some consumer IoT devices; smart watches, smart speakers, smart bulbs, smart fridges… you get the idea. We put the word “smart" in front of them.

For businesses, you can take advantage of some of the home automation tech like smart thermostats, light bulbs, and air conditioners, but many industries have their own devices that help streamline and automate tasks.

Just for an example, let’s look at an industry that most people don’t associate with technology; agriculture. IoT devices in the agricultural industry can monitor water, measure soil, and control sprinklers and irrigation systems. There are case studies where automated drones are used to fly over crops to detect issues easier and faster than a human being could. The industry is starting to adopt AI-controlled equipment and large machinery that can reduce the amount of labor it takes to weed and manage fields. In an industry where profit margins are paper-thin, and the work is already difficult, these tools can bring a lot of value.

There are IoT solutions for offices, manufacturers, utility companies, transportation services, healthcare, and countless other industries.

9. Automation

Sometimes, streamlining operations doesn’t require additional hardware, it can be done with software. That’s where automation comes in. Time-consuming tasks such as data entry, scheduling, inventory management, invoicing, and payroll could possibly be automated. Reducing time-consuming, repetitive tasks can save a lot of time and hassle and free up staff to do more important things.

The beauty of automation is that it also removes the element of human error. Once a task is properly automated, it’s going to get done with the same speed and precision each and every time.

10. Mobilize Your Workforce

If the global pandemic taught anybody anything, it’s that many businesses can successfully offer mobility and flexibility to some or all of their employees. Whether you offer remote or hybrid employment, or your workforce naturally needs to be able to travel, modern-day technology can make this extremely seamless.

This is more important than ever, and for a few reasons. First, some of the best job candidates might not be willing to relocate. If you are looking to hire from a larger pool, this is a great opportunity. Secondly, it’s more important than ever before to secure remote or mobilized users to protect company data. 

This even goes for businesses that don’t offer remote or hybrid, but occasionally send their sales people or other staff on site or to conferences. When an employee (or executive) is anywhere but the office, more effort needs to be put in to ensure that company data is being handled properly and kept secure. This is relatively easy to do with modern technology, but your business needs to be equipped for it.

Managed IT’s Role in Loss and Cost Prevention

Finally, let’s talk about how properly managed IT can prevent major expenses.

11. The Cost of Downtime

We already mentioned preventing downtime as our very first benefit above, but let’s take a closer look at just how much this can cost your business.

Let’s say you have 10 employees, and a network outage prevents them from being able to do some of their day-to-day tasks. Maybe there are some other tasks that they can do without the network, so let’s just say their total utilization during the outage is a generous 25 percent.

Let’s say it takes a day before the outage is fixed. That’s 10 employees, only able to do about a quarter of their tasks over an 8-hour day. That’s essentially giving up 60 hours of work.

Take the average payroll of these employees and multiply it by 60. 

It’s probably not a very pretty number. 

But there’s more!

This is a little harder to calculate, but how much business did the outage cost you? Did products get out on time? Were sales proposals or invoices held up? Were meetings or projects rescheduled?

What about the time it takes to make up for the 60 combined hours of work? How much impact does this outage have on the next several days, or even weeks?

Downtime adds up quickly.

12. Compliance and Avoiding Legal Penalties

Compliance with data protection regulations is crucial. Non-compliance can lead to legal penalties. Depending on your industry, you likely have specific rules and regulations you need to meet. If you do business in certain states or countries, you have to follow their compliance laws.

Even in Massachusetts, there are specific regulations around the protection of personal information of residents throughout the Commonwealth. These standardizations are in place to protect your customers, and it’s your responsibility to make sure that you protect your data from unauthorized access.

In short, if you collect or process personal information, which includes and isn’t limited to first and last names, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, financial information, credit card information, and other similar information, you need to keep this information protected. Massachusetts companies must implement a written information security program (WISP) and account for what they are doing to protect sensitive data.

If your organization were to experience a data breach, you need to be accountable for that too, and there are strict laws and regulations on how to conduct this. Massachusetts has some of the most strict data protection laws in the nation, and if your business fails to comply with them, not only will it hurt your reputation, but it will potentially open up the doors for legal penalties.

Our services can help with compliance. We can ensure your business meets all relevant regulations. This can help avoid legal penalties. It can also protect your business' reputation.

13. Avoid Cybersecurity Threats

Cybercrime is currently one of the biggest threats to small businesses. We’re not talking about the traditional stuff like viruses and malware.

Today, cybercrime is financially motivated. Cybercriminals often treat their “trade” like a business. In fact, in some cases, they really are businesses. Picture offices with rows of computers, water coolers, and motivational posters. Picture a general manager pacing up and down the cubicles, checking in on staff who are trying to get the biggest ransom or trick the most people into clicking on a phishing email.

This is more or less the reality for a lot of cybercrime.

Regardless of how these threats cultivate and spread, and who is behind them, they cause a lot of expensive havoc for small businesses, and it’s getting riskier every year.

Cybersecurity protections used to be perceived as a luxury, designed for larger enterprises. That’s not the case anymore, and while it has become more crucial for smaller businesses to layer on additional protection, it has also become more affordable for the small business budget. Regardless, it just has to be done. You are doing your business a huge disservice by ignoring cybersecurity.

The Datalyst Advantage for Small Businesses

We offer numerous advantages for small businesses. We can help you save money, enhance revenue, and protect your organization. We can also streamline operations and provide support and recovery in order to help future-proof your business.

If you are tired of feeling like IT is just a necessary evil, or an ongoing expense, and you want to get more out of it, contact Datalyst at (774) 213-9701.