Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) find themselves in an IT mess – overspending their budget, wasting time dealing with issues, and losing productivity to downtime, log-in issues, and remote connectivity constraints. Whether you’re trying to manage IT in-house with limited staff or you’re relying on multiple vendors to host your business applications, protect your data, and support your end-users, things can get out of hand quickly.

The In-House IT Mess

When you manage IT internally, running applications on desktops or on servers within your office,  it’s easy to become overwhelmed – especially if you have a single-person IT staff or you depend on a tech-savvy employee to handle issues as they arise.

SMBs with in-house IT often encounter challenges related to application availability and performance, remote access, data security, end-user support, and escalating costs. You might face too-frequent business disruptions  due to downed servers, security breaches,  login issues, or connectivity problems. When these events occur, business grinds to a halt and it can take hours or even days to get your applications up and running, get your users online and connected, and restore your operations to full productivity.

Keeping up with IT tasks is no easy feat — especially when you have limited resources. Updating software, managing devices, onboarding and supporting end-users, and protecting against the latest security threats are time-consuming and require specialized expertise. When priorities shift and IT tasks go unaddressed, users become frustrated, customers grow dissatisfied, and your organization is at heightened risk of outages, breaches, and employee attrition.

Then there’s the issue of hardware. When you set up and manage your IT infrastructure in house, you and your team are tied to your internal hardware, resulting in limited or, in some cases, no remote capabilities. This is problematic when you’re trying to recruit new employees who may prefer a hybrid or remote work model – or at least want the flexibility to work from home or on the road when they need to.

With the in-house IT model, chances are you’re spending big bucks every 3-4 years to replace equipment that’s either not working or past its prime. Or you may keep adding more memory or data storage to keep up with growing business demand. The upfront cost of these capital purchases can be substantial, which means you have to set money aside in your budget. What’s more, these assets depreciate in value over their lifetime.

When you combine these capex vs. opex considerations with the aforementioned productivity and security risks, in-house IT can become overwhelming, messy, and costly – distracting you from your core business initiatives.

The Multi-Vendor IT Mess

As your SMB grows, whether organically or through acquisitions, you may find yourself using multiple cloud vendors to host your business applications and manage your IT. You  might be using Microsoft 365 for email, another cloud provider for accounting application hosting, and yet another for your ERP. On top of that, you may be using an IT consultant to manage your local devices and a 24x7 help desk service to support end users.

When you rely on so many vendors, the likelihood of business disruptions increases substantially. Your users  may run into problems accessing all your applications due to multiple logins and passwords. Your security may have gaps without a holistic approach and consistent monitoring across all your applications, devices, and end-users. Or IT troubleshooting and end-user support may become a major hassle with so many vendors to contact to get your issues resolved. Just as too many cooks can spoil the broth, too many IT vendors can cause confusion, slow down business,  and hinder efficient execution of  your IT strategy

You also have to consider the messy  financial ramifications of the multi-vendor approach. You’re paying multiple vendors to get you up and running in the cloud — and then there are the monthly or yearly subscription fees. Plus,  you’re likely paying for IT management and  support by the hour — charges that can spiral out of control quickly and break your budget.

Clean Up Your IT Mess with Consolidated IT

Whether you’re currently managing IT in-house or using multiple vendors, you may be able to clean up your IT mess by bringing all your IT together under one service provider — saving you time, money, and stress.

With consolidated IT, one service  provider can host your applications, manage your Microsoft 365 subscriptions, set up and manage your cloud environment, secure and manage your onsite devices, keep your data secure, and provide unlimited help desk support.

Unlike in-house IT or multi-vendor arrangements, consolidated IT offers simplicity, efficiency, and cost savings with one monthly bill to pay, one support number to call, and one seamless user experience across all your applications. You can say goodbye to multiple logins, hefty hourly support charges, too-frequent business disruptions, and connectivity issues that frustrate employees and drag down productivity.

Choosing the Right Partner for Consolidated IT

When it comes to consolidated IT, who you work with matters. Look for IT provider with a proven track record for success and a continuous commitment to excellence in the following areas:

Reliability – Ability to support continuous application availability and exceptional performance over the life of the business relationship.

Security – Robust physical and cybersecurity to protect your applications and data in the rapidly evolving threat landscape.

White-Glove Support – Exceptional service throughout your customer journey including 24x7 help desk support to address your end-user, business, and technology needs.

Reliability

The best IT service providers will run your applications in a cloud environment built to deliver 100% uptime and consistently high performance — even as your business, organizational, or technological needs change over time. Do your homework regarding the provider’s virtualization environment to ensure it provides: 

-Redundant physical and virtual infrastructure

- Standard maintenance and fully vetted platform updates

- Unlimited and seamless scalability

- Failover and disaster recovery options

- Redundant power and cooling in purpose-built data centers

- Multiple IP providers

Security

In today’s ever-evolving threat landscape, you need the right security in place to safeguard your business, customers, and employees. The battle against malware, phishing, trojans, ransomware, DDoS, Man in the Middle (MitM) attacks, and a host of other techniques is an ongoing challenge. Bad actors are not targeting just large organizations, but what they view as the “low hanging fruit” — those companies whose defenses are most easily penetrated.

To ensure your SMB is protected, you need to ensure your IT service provider has built security into every layer of its hosting infrastructure. In addition, you should ask about enhanced protection at the network and local device level to strengthen your security stack. You should look for physical and virtual security, including:

Physical Security

- 24-hour security guards
- External and internal surveillance cameras
- Mantraps
- Biometrics

Virtual Security

- Firewalls
- Encrypted read-only backup and multi-site replication
- Volumetric DDos protection
- Anti-virus/anti-malware
- Intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS)
- Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
- Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM)
- Multi-factor authentication
- Email security
- DNS filters
- Security awareness training

The best IT service providers offer tailored security recommendations and services based on your SMB’s specific needs. These might include additional technology protections, changes to internal security processes, and implementation of best practices that have proven effective for similar  businesses.

White-Glove Support

A common misconception is that customer support starts when something goes wrong and you need to reach out for help. However, the best customer support is proactive, with strategies, tools, and systems in place to prevent issues from occurring in the first place.  That’s why you should work with  an IT service provider with an ongoing commitment to customer success — one that will understand your current needs and future plans, and take steps to ensure ongoing agility and responsiveness.  
Ask questions to ensure the IT service provider will be by your side through every step of the customer lifecycle — from migration and set up to ongoing updates, management, and end-user support. The best providers will offer 24x7 expert support and log every request in a case management system with clear escalation policies so you can count on the fastest possible issue resolution.

Consolidate IT Gradually – or All at Once

If consolidating IT sounds like the right move for your SMB, the good news is that you can make it happen at a pace that works for you and your team. If you’re managing IT in-house right now, you might have some life left in your servers. In that case, you might choose to have your service provider manage your on-site servers/devices, implement tailored security solutions, and deliver help desk support — and then start moving your business applications to the cloud when you’re ready. You can also elect to undertake IT consolidation all at once if that works for your organization.

For SMBs that use multiple vendors and want to consolidate IT, the process is easier than you may think. You can choose to bring all your applications and IT management under a single IT service provider in one fell swoop, or you can move them in phases. Regardless of which cadence you choose, it’s important to select a partner that will provide free migration, stress-free setup, and expert consultation for a smooth and seamless transition.

About Infinitely Virtual

Infinitely Virtual (IV) is the most comprehensive and customer-focused IT service provider for SMBs. Since 2007, we’ve been helping SMBs solve real business challenges with IT solutions and services that leverage our revolutionary Enterprise Virtualization Environment™ (E.V.E.). When you work with IV, you get a dedicated team of experts whose sole responsibility is to help you achieve your goals with an efficient, cost-effective cloud infrastructure and expert IT management services tailored to your business, application, data, and user requirements.

To connect with us call (866) 257-8455, email Sales@infinitelyvirtual.com, or visit www.infinitelyvirtual.com.