In today’s landscape, business owners understandably feel pressure to keep costs as low as possible. But when it comes to IT, if your business is like most others, it simply cannot operate smoothly without robust IT solutions. Therefore, it’s important to understand the value you’re getting as well as the size of your investment.

Here, we’ll run through the basics of calculating your IT support costs, including comparing different IT support models’ potential value, benefits, and drawbacks.

In-house IT support costs

– IT team’s salaries

According to Glassdoor, the average IT manager’s salary in 2022 is over £51,000. Couple this with pensions, training, and benefits, plus the cost of employing any IT assistants, and the price starts to add up.

– Opportunity costs

It’s also important to consider that most in-house IT managers are not experts in all areas. Suppose you rely on your IT manager’s knowledge alone. You may risk incurring opportunity costs and actual costs if gaps in their knowledge mean that your IT is not optimised, resilient and secure. Unreliable systems with low availability can significantly impact your business’ productivity. And unfortunately, cybercriminals are more likely to target SMBs. Therefore, not only could you fall behind the competition, but you could also fall victim to one of a growing number of cyber threats.

Outsourced IT and IT support costs

– The latest knowledge, technology and skills

Another option is to outsource to a specialist IT support provider who will deliver services in exchange for a fixed monthly fee. Typically, this costs less than employing an in-house IT team.

Additionally, using this model, you get access to a wealth of up-to-date knowledge across a team of experts in specific IT fields. The best providers have highly-trained teams equipped with the latest knowledge and skills needed to bolster security, solve IT problems, and provide strategic advice about new technologies that could help you grow and evolve your business.

And, as they generally work across sectors and industries, they are constantly learning new things, and they can share knowledge and best practice across their client base.

– Focus on prevention, not cure

Excellent IT support providers, like Onebyte, typically partner with leading technology providers. They can give small businesses access to technology solutions that would otherwise be out of reach. For example, at Onebyte, we use the latest monitoring solutions to proactively monitor your IT infrastructure, and spot and fix potential issues before your users are affected. As a result, we shift our time to adding value by consistently evaluating the full spectrum of your IT and identifying areas for improvements instead of simply ‘fighting fires’.

For most SMBs, outsourcing is the key to unlocking the true value of technology and reducing IT support costs. Having an expert on your side can make all the difference in keeping your business working smoothly, optimising productivity, and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.

Finding the right IT support provider for you

There are a lot of IT support providers out there, and most make big promises. So how can you tell a good one from a bad one, and identify the ones that deliver what they say they will?

To get the insights you need to select the right IT support provider for you, download our guide, “Think Proactive: Redefine your IT Support Expectations.”

We’re Onebyte

Onebyte is a managed IT service provider that delivers genuine proactive IT support and services to organisations with 10 to 100 employees in London and the East of England.

Proactivity is the only way to reduce an organisation’s IT issues and risks to the absolute minimum, drive innovation, improve security and support its continuous growth.

By being proactive, we make people and technology brilliant together!