Most business owners learn very quickly that taking on new skills and learning to be self-sufficient is a great way to save money. Whether it’s cleaning up an office or learning to balance the books, there is a lot to be said for taking on a DIY mindset when you’re running your own company.
However, there are limitations to this approach – particularly when you’re dealing with topics (like technology) that the average business owner might not be completely familiar with. With that in mind, it’s worth asking: do you actually save money by following a DIY IT strategy?
In our experience, the answer is usually “no.” To help you understand why there are a couple of things you need to factor into your thinking…
Cost vs. Value in IT Expenses
In an obvious and immediate sense, you certainly can save money by foregoing the services of an outsourced IT team. After all, that’s one less invoice to pay, and more money you can keep within your company’s accounts.
However, what you’re giving up probably costs you a lot more. For one thing, you’re going to have to take a lot of time fixing small problems, managing software upgrades, and performing other routine IT support tasks. And for another, it’s a virtual certainty that you’ll experience things like unplanned downtime and network outages if you’re taking care of your own technology. That can amount to fewer sales and productivity losses in other areas.
The point here is that even though you might spend less money by managing your own IT, you probably aren’t actually saving anything. You’re just trading one small cost for the bigger basket of less-predictable expenses that are inevitably going to show up.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Thinking
The most successful entrepreneurs and business owners tend to be forward-thinking individuals. They consider the long-term impacts of their decisions rather than the immediate costs and benefits. That’s certainly the case when it comes to managed services agreements with outsourced IT companies.
Even going beyond the little annoyances (like network errors or devices that won’t sync) of managing your own technology, there are bigger risks and expenses involved. For instance, most business owners don’t sufficiently plan for backup and disaster recovery, or carefully consider the pros and cons of new tech investments. As a result, they end up wasting huge sums of money when they lose systems to minor tragedies like power surges or end up buying hardware and software they don’t need.
Over the long run, a good IT partner will help you save a lot of money with proactive maintenance, strategic thinking, and simple solutions. You can skip that expertise, but it isn’t going to improve your bottom line picture over the coming months and years.
Get the IT Care Your Business Deserves
If you are even thinking about managing your own technology, it’s probably a sign that you haven’t gotten good outsourced IT service in the past. Otherwise, you wouldn’t hesitate to pay a low monthly rate for 24/7 monitoring, support, and consulting.
If you think you could use some help getting more from your technology budget, contact fantastic IT in Southern California today. We will be happy to schedule a free consultation and show you why we’ve been chosen again and again as a top service provider in the field for several years running.