5 ways managed services alleviate IT pain points for SMBs

Every small and medium-sized business (SMB) has its fair share of challenges in managing day-to-day business operations and orchestrating big picture plans. These are known as problems of scale, and they’re most apparent when it comes to IT management and utilization. The most common IT pain points for growing SMBs include:

• Rising IT costs
• Short-staffed IT departments
• Inadequate technical skills
• High employee turnover rate
• A lack of agility in IT road mapping

This article explores the different ways that managed IT services can help SMBs to mitigate these pain points.

Relieve overburdened IT team

Most small companies like to keep their employee count at a minimum, ideally to save labor costs. Also, many SMBs have a relatively narrow IT footprint, hence the equally small IT team. However, as a business grows, so do its IT demands. If the IT team doesn’t scale with its growth, it could quickly get overwhelmed by mounting responsibilities. An overburdened or understaffed IT team negatively impacts IT performance and IT-dependent business processes.

A managed IT services provider rescues an overwhelmed IT team by taking over all the nitty-gritty technical tasks, freeing the in-house staff to focus on more important jobs.

Streamline your labor force

HR management is a significant pain point for SMBs. Besides handling employee onboarding, compensation, and welfare, you also have to deal with pushback, such as absenteeism. Whether it’s from paid time off, leave, or sick time, a single absentee in an already small IT team could leave a vast and problematic labor gap.

With managed IT services, you never have to worry about IT staff not showing up to work. Plus, outsourcing IT services is a great way to trim unnecessary redundancies in your IT labor force.

Augment your staff

Finding and retaining skilled IT talent is becoming harder and harder. According to IBM, this talent shortage is due to a widening skill gap and a rapidly evolving technology landscape. Unfortunately, upskilling and reskilling the existing workers are not always viable options for most SMBs. So, many organizations are now looking beyond traditional hiring and employee training to meet their IT labor needs. Managed IT is a great way to bridge this skill gap. You can readily access a pool of highly qualified and experienced IT experts to augment your internal team by simply partnering with a managed IT services provider.

Avoid employee turnover

IT department turnover is a worrying concern for many entrepreneurs, given the talent shortage in tech professions. Today’s tech labor market is intensively competitive, and employee loyalty is never guaranteed. Most employees cite poor job experience, lack of growth opportunities, and low pay as the main reasons for leaving their positions.

Here is how you can minimize the churn rate. First, you should only employ the number of workers that you can manage to compensate generously. Then fill any remaining labor gaps through outsourcing. Managed IT can significantly improve your workers’ experience by taking on the mundane jobs no one wants and easing the overall IT workload.

Reduce IT spending

Cutting and streamlining operational costs is one of the main reasons that companies outsource IT services. Partnering with an IT solution provider saves you money in many different ways, such as:

• Minimizing labor expenses
• Reducing capital IT investments
• Improving staff productivity
• Boosting IT efficiency
• Eliminating risks
• Stabilizing IT budgeting and planning

Running a small to medium-sized business can be challenging, especially in a competitive niche dominated by big players. But don’t let that dampen your spirits. The important thing is to look beyond traditional business methods for new solutions to modern challenges. On that note, managed IT services may be the easiest way to resolve many of your business’s nagging IT pain points, from staffing issues to tight IT budgets.

Address all your IT challenges with KME Systems today. We understand the IT pain points that SMBs go through, and we have ready solutions for all of them. Get in touch with us to learn more about our managed services.