Is Traditional Technical Support Effective Enough For Your Company

For anyone who is employed by any mid or large-sized company, it is expected that your agency has a formal IT department. This department is best known for managing all your companies technology needs including hardware maintenance and procurement, software management and cybersecurity, and network oversight and company usage policies. These responsibilities become more critical the larger an agency you work under, as there are more information and activity to monitor, as well as more company assets to manage. These departments also act as a customer service function for employees who have any questions.

While these core functions of IT by themselves are enough to justify having an IT department, a question has started to arise as to whether these departments are sufficient enough based on the traditional way they are staffed and operated. More so now, the corporate America landscape has changed significantly, and have altered the roles of these IT departments.

For example, people are now working from home more often potentially using their own wifi networks even with VPNs, and companies more commonly are now utilizing cloud-based infrastructure and outsourcing data storage. There is also now a huge generational evolution where more and more employees have a better understanding of functions and have enough computer backgrounds that they rely less on IT services. Alternatively, some companies in an effort to balance their budget sheet, have cut back on administrative functions like formal IT departments rendering the existing capacities of their services to be insufficient.

So the question is, if your in-house IT department has no longer found itself to be as effective as it once was, what could be a cost-friendly effective solution to oversee your technical support for all IT functions. Perhaps you could outsource your IT needs to a third party, such as Titan Tech IT Services in Cincinnati.

Outsourcing IT services has become a no brainer solution for many mid to large scale companies, because of the scalability in which these services provide. For smaller firms, an hourly rate works very well because it keeps costs in line with what is actually needed without waste. For larger firms, major contracts can be signed to get constant round the clock support so that a corporation is never in a pinch for staff support.

A good company will align itself very well with the scalability principle of IT third party services, offering the full suite of services a typical IT department would handle. It starts with 24/7 fast response to any IT issues, such as down servers, computer crashes, or virus infections to vital infrastructure. Moreover, a third-party provider is capable of understanding all the IT infrastructure that exists in your network and provides the appropriate network security and configurations that will optimize performance and minimize interruptions.

A good third party understands the cloud infrastructure business front and back and can manage all your cloud-based software and data storage components, from basic things like your Microsoft Office 365 suite to advanced features such as your company databases with sensitive information that require the most sophisticated form of cyber-security. They can also manage all your video conferencing solutions, ensuring you have the state-of-the-art bandwidth needed to deliver video calls in and out of your company’s network, as well as any internal calls whether via the office or in a teleworking capacity.

In today’s world, cybersecurity is still a top concern, and even the best cybersecurity firms will have leaks that can attempt to bring down a system, even temporarily. This is why it is of utmost importance to have a sophisticated and smart team of outside help that understands the full nature of cyber threats, and how to resolve any issues quickly, to minimize downtime. With a good firm, they will backup all data, so that if a threat ever does occur, they are well equipped to handle the transfer of backup data or any disaster recovery in a minimal amount of time.

For those who are fully on board with the help of a third-party provider, they can also manage all your commercial off the shelf software solutions. They can oversee all the contracts, manage the storage and functionality, and easily be available to all your employees for any troubleshooting of this software. Whether they are cloud-based or local applications, they can manage anything from payroll and financial, to fleet management, or any other asset management or modeling software tool.

Third-party tech firms know that they will be dealing with a wide array of industries, and so these firms know that they must complement their IT knowledge expertise with general knowledge of the industries they are supporting. Whether it’s government, legal, financial, or healthcare, the staff will either hold experience in these fields or take the time to sit down with your staff to understand the dynamics of your company’s industry. This means that when your third party IT support team must deal with your employees directly, they will provide a higher quality level of service in understanding their specific questions.

Hiring a third party technical support might seem scary and costly at first, but these firms will not try to sell something you do not need. All you need to do is schedule a consultation and they will sit down and review your needs and company dynamic to provide what services they believe you need and a cost structure that will work best. These contracts can be highly customized, whether it’s on an hourly basis, a fixed fee, or a lump sum based on a number of hours, they will ensure you are getting exactly what you need at a reasonable cost. More importantly, third parties don’t necessarily represent a means to eliminate your existing IT functions but rather a way to help you reorganize existing resources or complement them by addressing key areas of weakness or inefficiencies.