How Small Business Can Spend Less on IT Support
Meeting the Challenge - Your Small Business can Spend Less on IT Support
Can your Practice or small to medium business spend less on IT Support? Yes, it is possible for you to meet the challenge and reduce your IT spend! A big part of reducing IT support costs comes down to how smart you are in using what you have, not the business climate you’re operating under! itro, a Melbourne-based IT Support company, shares its Top 3 Tips to help you save money and get the best value from your IT Support.
The upheavals and lockdowns Australia experienced through 2020-2021 has changed the way we live, work and shop. As a small business owner, Managing Director, Practice Partner, CTO or CFO, are you feeling exhausted or frustrated by new IT challenges thrust upon you through elements outside your control, such as mandated workplace restrictions, reluctance to return to the workplace, and the changing landscape of cyber security? Rather than focusing on matters outside your control, we encourage you to look at what you can control. Minimise what you spend on IT Support each month using itro’s top 3 tips.
3 Tips to Save and Consolidate Your Spend on IT
With so many now working remotely from home, away from the security of an office environment and firewall, keeping your devices reliable and cyber safe is challenging. Does that mean you need to be channeling more money into your IT? Not necessarily! By having the right tools and support, you and your team can both save and consolidate your monthly IT business spend in three key ways:
- Keep your devices cyber safe and efficient with the latest patch updates;
- Make sure you get the maximum benefit from your IT tools (eg, subscription to Microsoft 365);
- Lock your IT spend to a set monthly amount using a Managed Services Provider you can trust.
1. Keep Your Devices Updated
This simple tip is a key way you can reduce unnecessary IT spend and stay cyber safe! Unless you are keeping your device current with regular updates, it’s only a matter of time before it will become vulnerable to problems. When you keep your devices current with the latest software updates and security patches you maximise their inbuilt protection against cyber threats. Managing the performance and cyber health of your devices results in less issues, which equals less bills.
Outsourcing your IT support to a proactive Managed Services Provider (MSP), such as itro, includes monitoring and automated updating of devices with the latest security, software and app updates as soon as they are available.
But what about personal devices you and your team may use for work purposes? It’s really important you keep all of your devices with online capability, including your smartphones, up to date. If you’re unsure how to update your devices, visit itro’s list of official Apple, Windows and Google Support site links so you can ramp up your device protection today.
NB The most effective way to protect your business from cyber threats is having layered security measures, such as antivirus, multifactor authentication and endpoint protection. For more information on how each layer plays a different role in keeping your device and business cyber safe please read:
1. Antivirus and Cyber Security
2. Maximise the Value of your IT Subscriptions
Do you already subscribe to Microsoft 365? It’s a brilliant way for your small business, Firm or new start-up to save money on software costs. Subscription gives you the full Office suite of apps – Outlook, Email Exchange, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, which you can load on to up to five devices for a set monthly cost.
If you do have Microsoft 365, are you getting the most out of your subscription? This subscription gives you everything you need for emailing and scheduling, creating work documents, spreadsheets and presentations and everything you need to keep in touch with your team, vendors, marketplace and stakeholders using Teams. That means, when you subscribe to Microsoft 365 you don’t need to pay extra money for a conferencing app.
Microsoft have just beefed up their communication capabilities with the addition of Teams Calling. Teams Calling gives your business the full functionality of a traditional phone system across all your internet-enabled Windows, Apple and Android devices. You can make regular local, interstate and international calls from any location with internet. It gives you voicemail and shared contact lists across your Windows and Mac devices, and iPhone or Android smartphones that are subscribed to Microsoft 365. It’s as easy to use as regular phones and integrates smoothly across Microsoft’s business apps. You can also get Teams handsets for your home office or desk. If your business isn’t already maximising the benefits of having Teams, please call itro so we can help you reduce your costs and stay competitive.
3. Lock down what you spend each month on IT
The best way for your small business to spend less on IT support and services is partner with a proactive Managed Services Provider, such as itro. Melbourne-based IT Support company itro can help you control what you spend each month on your IT.
A good IT Provider will ensure you and your team have everything you need to stay connected and cyber safe wherever you work – your office, home or remotely.
itro offers managed plans that are perfect for small to medium businesses with 1-100 employees who want a proactive and honest partnership with their IT Services Provider. As your Managed Service Provider, our responsibility is to proactively keep your office working and your team cyber safe for an agreed monthly fee.
No one likes getting unexpected bills, and we don’t like passing them on, especially now with Australian businesses so hard hit by pandemic restrictions! By joining one of our Managed Services Support Plans, you will reduce or remove your risk to unexpected bills. We don’t see ourselves as an IT company: we’re a customer service company that manages IT and protects our clients’ cyber security. We’d love to work with your business.
If you’d like to know more, please check out our Support Plans pricing and comparison matrix.
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Starting a business is big step. Finding a way to stay resilient and financially viable often depends on tapping into experienced insights of how you can make your money go further, and tips to help you maximise the benefit of what you’re already spending on IT. We have several articles on our website that give practical advice on how to maximise your businesses’ IT and devices.
Please visit our News page to read articles such as: