When a business’s computer system goes down it can cost them thousands and sometimes even millions depending on the size of the business.
For smaller businesses just getting started, you may think that spending money on IT support isn’t something your business needs but that isn’t true. Most businesses that suffer ransomware attacks for example will go out of business within 6 months. This can be avoided too, by either outsourcing your company’s IT support or by hiring an IT support technician.
Some companies may be able to fix their tech problems on their own but for the majority of us, having a problem with tech is our worst nightmare and it can be a costly one too.
Hiring an in house IT support technician can be a good choice for some businesses, but what exactly is an IT support technician.
In House IT Support
An in house IT support technician is someone that is skilled in certain areas of IT support. They usually have a degree in a computer science-related field, but this isn’t always the case.
Businesses will hire an in house IT support technician to keep their network and computing systems running smoothly so they can be as profitable as possible.
An IT technician could have many roles within a company from updating software, replacing old hardware, fixing network issues and much more. The reality of the situation though is that an IT technician won’t be able to solve every problem as most will specialise in certain areas.
An IT technician may be good at one of the following:
- Networking.
- Software.
- Hardware.
- Cloud Computing.
- Malware removal.
If an IT technician can do all of the above there is a good chance that they will request a very large salary. Most IT technicians won’t know every field of IT support and therefore you will need to hire more than one.
The benefits of hiring an IT support technician.
Firstly, hiring an IT Support technician in house or outsourcing this service is going to benefit your business. However, today we will be looking at in house only.
The biggest benefit of hiring an IT support technician in house is that they get to know your computer system, they know of common problems and they are always on hand to fix any problems that arise.
As the technician learns your system you can expect them to make improvements to it too. This will improve the performance of your system and make your business more efficient.
Disadvantages of an in house IT Support technician
There are many disadvantages of hiring in house IT support but the biggest problem is the cost. IT support technicians are very expensive to employ and one tech could cost you $100,000+ a year.
This figure will also rise based on the complexity of your system, the experience the tech support person has and also the number of technicians who will need to be employed.
A larger company will need to employ many IT technicians as they will need to cover the whole system to make sure that it is protected at all times. For large companies, hiring an in house team of tech support experts makes sense as a few minutes of downtime would pay the whole year of salary for multiple staff.
Alternatives to hiring in house tech support
For large companies, in house tech support makes sense, but for smaller companies, the expenses aren’t worth it. If your company isn’t going to lose millions if you have a few minutes of downtime then it may not be worth hiring an in house support team. The alternative in this situation is to outsource your IT support.
Bedrock IT is an IT Support company in Ottawa that many businesses outsource their tech support to. If you would like to see what an IT support company can do for your business please get in touch with us for a free no-obligation quote.
Benefits of outsourcing your IT
Outsourcing your IT support to a company such as Bedrock IT is going to save you money and give you access to a larger pool of resources than if you were going to hire 1 or 2 IT support technicians.
This is a huge advantage to small businesses as they can hire one company to handle all the areas of their business compared to hiring 4 or 5 tech support agents.
This is more financially viable to most companies and a great solution for those looking for tech support.
Disadvantages to outsourcing your tech support
A disadvantage to outsourcing your tech support is that when a problem happens you won’t have a team of experts in house to fix the problem. Instead, you will have to report the problem and then wait for an agent to turn up to fix your problem.
As mentioned before, fixing your problem as soon as possible can be a big issue for large companies so if you can’t afford for your business to be down for a few minutes then outsourcing may not be for you.
Before you rule out outsourcing your IT though you should check your service level agreement and see how quickly your support should be with you. This will give you more data to see if outsourcing your support could be an option for your business.
Does your Ottawa business need to hire an IT support technician?
For the majority of small businesses in Ottawa, the answer to this question will be no. Most small businesses in Ottawa will be able to outsource their IT support for a fraction of the price of hiring an IT support technician.
If you would like to outsource your IT support, talk to one of our advisers today and they will be able to recommend the best level of support for your business.
