Why Small Businesses Continue to Ignore Their Need for IT Management
Every business knows that IT management and security are things that they should be concerned about, yet only a fraction of small and medium-sized businesses are taking proactive approaches to securing their operations from potential threats. Why is this? We have given this phenomenon quite a bit of thought, and we think it boils down to three key things: money, awareness, and trust. In this blog, we will discuss each of these key points in greater depth.
To begin, let’s talk about the driving force behind nearly every decision small and medium-sized business owners make, and that is money. Many small businesses don’t realize that IT is an asset rather than a liability. Just like the building you do business in; IT is an essential function to successfully run your business in today’s digital age.
On the other hand, not having strong security software and practices in place is potentially a business-ending liability. This may seem like a radical statement, but the data supports the claim. In fact, 60% of small businesses go out of business within 6 months of a cyber-attack. Why is this the case? Well, the average cost of recovery from a cyber-attack is about $38,000 for small businesses, and that doesn’t include indirect costs such as lost sales and business opportunities.
Another thing that often goes overlooked is the potential return on investment (ROI) a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can provide to a small business. Hiring an MSP leads to decreased loss from network downtime, decreased risk from hackers, increased scalability potential, and it means you no longer have to worry about handling IT problems. So much productivity can be lost each year due to network issues, which overall can accumulate to a significant loss in a company’s bottom line. Decreasing your risk of being hacked is a huge benefit for a company, because as previously stated, the cost of recovering from a cyber-attack can be catastrophic for a small business. For scalability, a proactive MSP has a strategy in place to help you manage growth and keep everybody within your organization connected as you grow. Lastly, not having to worry about handling IT problems addresses a major pain-point many small businesses have. Allowing an expert to handle your IT problems provides you with peace of mind, and it allows you to focus solely on running your business.
In terms of awareness, this refers to the lack thereof regarding the need of IT support for some small business owners. Regardless of the number of employees you have or the industry you’re in, you need to take IT management and security seriously. Also, we believe that there is a lack of awareness of the alarming amount of cyber-attacks that target small business. The data shows that 43% of cyber-attacks target small businesses. This is the case because cyber-criminals know they will have a higher success rate due to the lack of proficiency in IT security for this segment.
Having an IT staff member in your organization is beneficial, but so much goes into IT management that one person can easily get overwhelmed with managing all the functions that make up IT. A security-focused Managed Services Provider would be a great resource for both, your IT department and your overall operation. A few of our clients have an IT person on-hand, and they act as an excellent point of contact for us to address and fix any issues the company is experiencing.
Lastly, how do you know you can trust an MSP? IT is a critical function of your business, and who you let gain access requires due diligence. Follow this guide before selecting an MSP.
1. Visit website: On their website you should be looking for 3 key things: company values, customer testimonials, and core services that include 24/7 monitoring and regular reporting.
2. Check third-party reviews: Most credible MSP’s will have enough Google reviews for you to formulate a decent idea of how they run their business.
3. Schedule a meeting: In an initial meeting learn about their goals, staff, expertise, and what differentiates them from the competition.
4. Contact references: A proven MSP should be more than happy to give you contact information to references that will help you make a more informed decision including at least one in your industry.
After following these four steps you should feel much better about hiring an MSP you can trust. Remember, your MSP should be looking to form a long-term relationship with you. If you feel that the MSP isn’t putting in the effort to fully understand your operation, don’t do business with them.
As we approach the end of 2019, make it a resolution to get more serious about protecting your business in 2020. Both, cyber-attacks and the cost of recovering from an attack will continue to increase in 2020. Give us a call to start the discussion on managing your IT!
Click here to take a quick 5-question survey to assess your IT-priority grade.
Sources:
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/01/cyber-security-statistics-small-business.html
https://www.solvereone.com/pages/cost-of-cyber-attacks-on-businesses/