The drawbacks of solely relying on in-house technicians
Business owners have a lot to worry about on a daily basis. They have to constantly put out fires, oversee the finance and administration side of the business, and occasionally check in on the company’s overall performance. If that wasn’t bad enough, they also have to deal with IT, which tends to eat a massive chunk of time.
Time is a valuable commodity that business owners can’t afford to spend too much of on IT. That’s why they need IT support technicians on their side. But as you’ll soon find out, hiring dedicated technicians to support your company may not be as effective as outsourcing to a managed IT services provider (MSP).
Exorbitant employment costs
Hiring an in-house technician can be an expensive investment for companies running on a tight budget. The average salary of a mid-level IT technician is over $70,000 a year, but that doesn’t even cover everything. You have to pay for training, certifications, benefits, and their 401(k). Also, if you want IT support to be as responsive and as organized as possible, you’ll have to shell out even more cash for ticketing system and system administrator tools.
Don’t forget that this is just referring to the cost of one technician. A full-sized team can easily cost you several hundred thousand dollars a year.
By contrast, partnering with MSPs is much more affordable. MSPs give you access to an entire team of experts for a low flat monthly subscription fee. You don’t need to worry about additional staffing costs because the technicians aren’t technically under your payroll; they’re under the MSP’s.
Limited skill sets
IT is a broad, complex field with new developments every month. To keep up with changes, you need a team with diverse expertise and skill sets.
But, when you only have room in your budget for one or two technicians, you’re limited to their current skill levels. In-house technicians, especially the entry-level ones, may require extra training to support the technologies your business relies on. At the same time, it’s difficult to send your technicians to a month-long seminar because your IT will be left unattended.
MSPs, however, employ dozens of IT staff who each has their own specialties. Red Key Solutions, for example, can handle both Windows and Mac issues, cloud migrations and maintenance, cybersecurity, network support, and more.
9-to-5 support
Another issue with in-house technicians is that they only work during business hours. So unless you’re forcing staff to work 24 hours a day, it’s nearly impossible to ensure that your IT infrastructure is always in top shape.
If you want to minimize downtime, opting for MSPs is the smartest way. That’s because they provide round-the-clock services even during weekends and holidays. They also have plenty of on-call technicians and therefore have the higher bandwidth needed to deal with several issues at once.
Staff turnover
Considering that the average tenure of an in-house technician is usually one to three years, dealing with turnover rates and replacement costs can be stressful. The cost of recruitment alone can cost businesses a small fortune.
Costs can also include lost productivity, as new system admins usually take over three months to get up to speed and assimilate with the company culture.
Though there are benefits to having someone on staff to resolve IT issues, MSPs provide robust services for a fraction of the cost. So, if your business in New York needs affordable IT support, call Red Key Solutions today.