Three Business IT Investments That Offer Significant Returns
It can sometimes be challenging to decide what aspect of your business needs the most pressing investments made into it, never mind how tough it can be to decide how to spend these investments in order to maximize the returns you see from them.
We’re all about trying to make things easier for you, so we’ve compiled a very brief list of the top three aspects of your IT to invest in that will both support your operations and garner an acceptable ROI.
So, what are these three prime investments that a Victoria business should focus on?
While many businesses rely on external providers for their IT management and maintenance needs to be fulfilled, quite a few support their technology primarily through dedicated internal resources in the form of an IT department. However, these departments (which often only have one or two employees) can very easily become overwhelmed by the need for their services and fall behind.
This is where co-managed IT services prove their value. Think of co-managed IT as a supplemental IT staffing option. Rather than going through the process of finding, onboarding, and then supporting the additional resources your internal IT department needs, we’ll work with you to accomplish what needs to be done.
For instance, let’s say you have a big project coming up that your current IT department isn’t able to handle, simply due to its number of team members. We can step in to provide the difference in labor and brainpower to ensure the project is completed successfully. Alternatively, your industry may face a cybersecurity requirement that your internal team lacks the experience to support. Co-managed IT gives you access to the skills you need without the inflated expense and potential risk of hiring someone new in the short-term.
Need to migrate to a new environment? We'll make that simpler for you as well, working with your team to do what needs to be done. Co-managed IT also benefits cybersecurity.
If you’re looking to identify the technology investment that does the greatest net good for businesses, you’ve just found it. Protecting your business is paramount to your success. Spending a little bit of capital and ensuring that these protections are in place will result in some significant benefits in the future.
Consider this for a moment: in Canada, the average cost of a ransomware demand increased by 33 percent between Q4 of 2019 and Q1 of 2020, ultimately reaching a total of CAD $148,700. Consider that cost, versus the much smaller, budgetable cost that the IT services that could help you avoid such malware variants, and you’ll see why cybersecurity is a smart investment for any business to make… and we do mean any business, including for example, nonprofits who also can be targeted in a cyberattack.
Business size has become inconsequential when it comes to the level of risk that an organization faces, so even the smallest outfit needs to be prepared to resist these threats.
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3. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
All of the assorted services that modern businesses need to invest in can (and do) really add up, and fast. This is why it makes sense for today’s organizations to consolidate their costs wherever they can.
One of these costs comes from your business’ phone services, still a staple in the modern office. While essential, traditional phone services are anything but cheap. VoIP takes these costs and, by utilizing your Internet service to transfer your telephonic data, eliminates them. Furthermore, VoIP includes many of the features that a telephone provider would charge extra for and more, not only delivering cost savings but delivering legitimate added value.
Before you sign up with VoIP, let us take a look at your contract. Better yet, if you’ve been in a contract for some time, it’s probably time to review it. Some VoIP providers downgrade yearly contracts to a month-by-month, greatly increasing your costs. In some cases, your monthly VoIP bill could increase by as much as 30 or 40 percent! As Victoria, BC’s IT experts, we are familiar with the VoIP landscape local businesses face and can ensure your Shaw VoIP contracts don’t go stale.
For assistance in implementing these cost-saving measures, as well as many others, reach out to us. We are the area’s premiere provider of IT managed services. Give us a call at (250) 483-5623 to learn more.
