Should You Outsource IT Support?

Hey, what about the non-squeaky wheel?

Ask a business manager to describe their physical premises and that’s no problem: the building, the equipment, the inventory, who carries keys.

And ask them to describe their digital infrastructure and they can likely name the obvious parts – their subscriptions, the devices, maybe the server.

But ask them what’s protected and how? What isn’t protected? Where sensitive data resides? What will break if one process goes down? What can criminal hackers access?

Many business managers can’t answer well about these things.

Your business operations, except in rare cases, now inhabit a digital infrastructure. Customer data, financial systems, vendor communications, fulfillment processes – the infrastructure that used to be physical and visible is now digital and invisible. You can see when a door needs a lock. You can’t readily see when a network needs hardening.

Was simplicity an accurate promise?

As your organization grows, the invisible infrastructure grows more complex. For instance what worked when you had five employees and one location doesn’t scale to fifteen employees across three locations. A single person who was counted on to know about computers would likely now be overwhelmed. And a break-fix approach (call a computer repair shop when a computer breaks) that felt cost-effective may now be seriously costing you in downtime and opportunities you can’t pursue because your systems aren’t up to the task. Technical debt compounds until it becomes a barrier to the growth you’ve worked to achieve.

The case for IT outsourcing

Nobody wants another line item on their budget. But the question isn’t whether you need IT support – it’s whether your current approach can scale with your ambitions or whether it may be holding you back.

… an outsourced IT department shared across local businesses, so no single organization bears the cost of the collective expertise

Your digital systems are your infrastructure – akin to your building’s foundation, roof, walls, electrical system or HVAC. Do you question the need for these to have been installed and later maintained by professionals?

Bryley, an MSP (Managed Service Provider [and Bryley’s one of the good ones – eleven-time MSP-501 award-recipient, among the largest in Central Mass and among the top fifty fastest growing Mass companies]), provides the same for your digital systems: the MSP may be the architect who designs it to meet your needs today and so it scales with your growth, the contractor who implements it, the cyber-specialists who secure it, the technician who repairs it when it fails, and the monitor who watches for problems before they become crises.

Beyond maintenance, an MSP can be the advisor that can help find production bottlenecks before they limit you and recommends areas where automation can multiply your capacity.

And the way an MSP can accomplish all these areas of tech knowledge is that it has the talent of an entire IT department (not that it has to function that way – many times Bryley supplements IT departments). But the thing to remember is: as an outsourced IT department shared across local businesses, no single organization bears the cost of the collective expertise.

The break-fix approach mentioned above feels economical because you only pay when something breaks. But that calculus ignores factors like revenue lost during downtime, the premium rates for emergency service, the productivity and morale drain when employees can’t access systems, the compounding cost of deferred maintenance and the security vulnerabilities that grow until they’re exploited. Break-fix doesn’t mean you’re avoiding IT costs; you’re paying for them unpredictably, often at the worst possible times, and without preventive work that in the scheme of things probably would have cost less.

An MSP’s monthly cost may feel like more because of its transparency, but it includes proactive monitoring to look for problems before they blow up, security measures that can contain breaches rather than just responding to them, strategic planning that helps keep technical debt from accumulating and the expertise to advise about infrastructure decisions that can scale as you scale. So, as part of considering your IT approach, ask if an MSP costs more than a fix-it-when-it-breaks approach – or is an MSP just more visible.

At the crossroads

An MSP doesn’t replace your decision-making – it replaces the technical limitations that have been deciding for you. Right now, when you can’t pursue a new revenue opportunity because your systems won’t support it, when you learn your backups haven’t been working for six months, when an employee leaves and takes system knowledge with them – those aren’t your strategic choices, but what’s forced on you by your infrastructure. An MSP can remove these kinds of constraints so your strategic decisions drive your business.

You’re paying for IT when your team can’t work because something’s down. You’re paying when you can’t bid because you don’t meet security requirements. You’re paying in the hours you spend troubleshooting instead of talking to prospects. An MSP can convert those unpredictable costs into a fixed monthly cost that you can budget and that is designed to head off systems problems.

Would you run a business from a building with unreliable electricity? Your network is the same kind of foundational infrastructure.

I know a commercially successful guitarist that taught me that success happens at the intersection where preparation meets opportunity. Without the needed forethought about your digital infrastructure will you be ready to take on the sudden, large request? the compliance-requiring project? to accommodate new employees?

To further investigate if outsourcing your IT is a sensible move for your organization, please call 978•562•6077 or email Bryley’s Roy Pacitto or complete the form, below.