My wife’s business is expanding to eight or nine staff – are we ready for managed services?

This will depend on your preference for IT functionality. The strategic approach to this is to contemplate the balance between functionality, quality of service and cost.

If cost is no issue you could outsource every part of your business that is not core, so you can build on your core skills to drive the success of your business. Your issues then become functionality and quality of service. Quality of service can be defined as speed of response, depth of product knowledge and customer service.

Cost must be considered as cost of equipment, cost of software and cost of people’s time. In any business with multiple computers it is very difficult to know how much time goes into resolving computer problems or waiting for computers to work.

If your business is a growth business, the solutions you select along the way will determine the cost of support, integration and development as you place more demand on your business systems to drive productivity. Making the right choices along the way will influence the cost and success of future IT initiatives.

Some businesses are fortunate enough to find a person who has the ability, time and interest in helping out while others struggle to find the quality they seek.

I would like to say I have the solution and often look at how I could use bleeding edge technology to scale solutions down to the small end of the market place. I am yet to find the technology that allows me to offer the level of care my clients’ desire for a price micro business can afford.

My business Combo targets businesses with over 15 computers because we find the value proposition of streamlined stable systems makes a sound business case and adds value to the businesses we work with. Others may claim a smaller client can benefit from the solutions; this will depend on the customer and on the technology solutions best supported by the support company.

No support company can support all the available solutions, so there are niche support areas that service providers are best suited to.

My advice is that if you are struggling with your computers, no matter what the size of your business, you will do well to seek a support organisation with happy clients in your market segment. This implies they have solved the problems you are likely to encounter.

You should not expect to find cheap, quick service that has great functionality. This is because good service comes from available people to solve problems and it takes good people to provide good quality service. So before you make your business decision think about the real cost to your business of IT not working as well as it could. Consider the real value of the time your staff spend working around the limitations and then select a solution that fits your requirements.

To some extent your tolerance for pain and level of interest in technology or the desire for problems to just go away will determine when and to whom you should outsource. Just don’t leave it too long and upset your staff in the meanwhile.

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