For many businesses, their computer systems are the backbone of their business. When something goes wrong not only can it be a frustrating experience but the downtime can cost your business a lot of money.
For some businesses that are just starting, it may make sense for them to troubleshoot their problems and fix them themselves, but for more established businesses this could cost thousands in lost revenue and the problem could also be too complex to fix yourself.
Here is where IT support comes into play.
Some businesses will choose to build an IT support team in house, while others will look to outsource their IT support. There isn’t a right or wrong option when it comes to IT support, it’s more about how your business is structured and the problems that you deal with.
What is an in house IT Support technician?
An in house IT support technician is a skilled worker that works within your companies IT department to make sure your business systems run effectively and smoothly.
An IT technician could have many roles within the company and could be in charge of updating the companies software, hardware and even setting security protocols.
In reality, one technician isn’t going to know everything and you often have to hire more than one person to keep the computing systems within your company running smoothly.
What are the benefits of an in house IT support technician?
The benefit of having an IT support technician in house is that if a problem is to occur then they are already on site. An IT support technician who works with your company daily is also going to know your systems too and can quickly spot when something isn’t working right.
As a person learns your system they can also improve it overtime too noticing any bottle knecks and being able to replace them.
What are the disadvantages of an in house IT support technician?
One of the main disadvantages of having an in house IT support technician is the cost. IT support technicians can be expensive to recruit and pay compared to outsourcing your IT services.
A bigger company will also have to employ multiple support technicians as they will have different qualities and will be stronger in some areas than others. This will take the cost of your IT support up and could cost you hundreds of thousands.
Outsourcing your IT support
Having an in house team to provide IT support is the right choice for some businesses, but for the majority, it doesn’t financially make sense. This is generally the case for smaller businesses that don’t want to spend $100,000 on each IT support technician they hire.
In this case, a business will look to outsource its IT support. At Firewall Technical we provide outsourced IT services to businesses in Ottawa and can help with everything from desktop support to cyber security.
Benefits of outsourcing your IT support
One of the major benefits of outsourcing your IT support is that it’s much more affordable for the majority of businesses and you also get a team of experts with different skill sets that you can call on if your business needs support.
For a small business, this is going to make a huge difference as they don’t have to spend so much money upfront hiring experts and in some cases, they may not even know who to hire. When you outsource your IT support you will get experts in networking, hardware, software, security and so much more for a fraction of the price of hiring just one in house support agent.
Disadvantages of outsourcing your IT support
The disadvantage of outsourcing your IT support is that you don’t have a team in the building to get to work if anything is to go wrong. You need to call up support, explain the problem and then wait for them to fix it.
When you outsource your IT support you will lose that little bit of speed but most support companies will have in their service level agreement the amount of time it should take to answer and fix your problem. If you do outsource your IT support then be sure to check your service level agreement for these times so that you are happy with them.
Do you need an IT support technician?
Modern companies rely on their computing systems for many tasks required within their business and even one if one of these problems were to occur it could mean downtime for a business.
Depending on the size of a business the downtime could cost thousands of dollars if not into the millions even for a few hours. In our opinion, most businesses will need some sort of IT support, even if it’s from setting up a network to making it secure.
IT support can not only keep your business running as it should but with the right IT strategy in place, you could also use your IT systems to assist with your business goals.
If you are in the Ottawa area and need help with your IT please get in touch with one of our IT support technicians who will discuss your system in detail and see if there is something we can help you out with.