Quick, what’s something you’ve fixed or altered in your home. A leaky faucet? A hole in the wall? Did you go next level and tile the bathroom? It’s a capable feeling, isn’t it?. But it’s funny, the badge of expertise usually doesn’t get pinned until after the project is finished. You’ve gained some handy experience and you’ve paid a price to get it done.
There’s an analogy here about managing your own IT. Your business started small. Maybe you set up the WIFI or a networked printer. Perhaps you went next level and set up a shared network drive. That’s impressive, seriously! But as your business grows, technology demands also increase.
From Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to software licensing; from backups to data integrity; from malware to email – the list keeps growing. You could tackle these. You may task the work to a team member. But learning-on-the-job-IT isn’t good for your team, your customers, or rapid business growth. When a technology issue could be resolved quickly and cleanly by a professional in one hour, perhaps you don’t want to wing it and take 10.
Now, you could hire a professional to bring information technology in-house or you could choose to outsource via Managed IT Services. If you opt to build your own internal IT muscle, remember, that IT is always bigger than a single person. It’s likely you will find a generalist with enough expertise to tackle IT maintenance and a specific vertical where they already have experience. But if you choose an internal IT path, remember to build in the time and an expectation for learning, mistakes, and on-the-job discovery.
It Managers Are Not Project Managers
Medium to large IT projects requires project management. If you choose to implement a new system, tool, or process that impacts your staff or your customers, you should consider project management. If your business is hitting a wall and you require research and recommendation for a solution, you need project management. There are always exceptions, and often the skills overlap, but project managers and IT managers are rarely the same people. Even if they were, who would manage ongoing cybersecurity issues, maintenance, and general IT while your IT person is managing a special project?
Managed IT Services bring an entire IT team to your small to medium-sized business. It’s a cost-effective solution and it gives you a competitive advantage. This team, with its diverse experience and skill set, is available 24/7/365. From day-to-day to the critical unexpected system issue, it makes sense. With IT concerns a thing of the past, you have time for that weekend home project you’ve been putting off.
