How Much Is It Really Costing You to Handle Your Own IT Needs?
When a business is first getting off the ground with just a computer or two, it may seem to make sense to just handle your IT needs on your own. But then, a few more computers get added along with a network to secure, and before you know it, handling your IT is getting more costly than you realized.
It’s common for small businesses to want to cut costs where they can, but when it comes to your technology, there are risks involved with trying to manage it all on your own, along with hidden costs that you may not be aware of.
From ensuring your email accounts are operating smoothly to protecting your devices from malware, there’s a whole lot more that goes into “handling your IT” than just troubleshooting a computer issue here and there.
If you’ve been holding off on checking out managed IT services because you thought it might cost you more than just managing yourself, you’ll want to read on to learn the real costs associated with do-it-yourself IT.
The Risks & Costs that Come with Do-It-Yourself IT
20 minutes here and there can really add up! If you have 15 employees that spend 20 minutes a day struggling with an IT issue, that’s 25 hours a week in lost productivity (enough to hire part-time employee).
Following are several costs that you may not be aware of that come with handling your IT on your own rather than using a managed IT services provider.
Time Wasted Dealing with IT Issues
IT issues can come in all shapes and sizes and when you don’t have a relationship with a Managed Services Provider (MSP), you and your staff are left dealing with them all.
The average worker wastes 22 minutes per day dealing with IT-related problems. So, if you have 15 employees at an average of $18 per hour, that would be a cost in lost productivity of $1,980 every month.
Risk of Ransomware Attack
One of the most beneficial features of a managed IT services plan is the security protection. They include things like anti-malware protection and management of your security patches and updates to mitigate OS and software vulnerabilities.
Ransomware is one of the biggest security problems facing businesses of all sizes and attacks have doubled already in Q1 of 2019 as compared to the prior quarter. If you haven’t done a thorough job handling your device and network security on your own, that can mean costs that average $36,000 per attack.
Cost of Unmanaged Computers
If you were to drive your car around and never change the oil or do any preventive maintenance on it, you’d be in for some hefty breakdown costs and your car would end up needing replacement much sooner.
Computers and other hardware also need regular preventative maintenance which MSPs do as a part of a service plan.
The cost of each unmanaged PC averages $5,000 per year.
When computers aren’t managed proactively, they can suffer problems that cause extended downtime and their usable lifespans can be much shorter than a properly managed PC.
Unplanned Downtime Costs
Today’s businesses rely so much on their technology (hardware, applications, wireless connection) that when it’s down, their business is pretty much closed as well.
Downtime can happen for any number of reasons:
- Server failures
- Network outage
- Human error
- Application conflict
- Storage or syncing failure
- Natural disaster/weather
One of the goals of a managed IT services plan is to reduce unexpected downtime by addressing issues before they cause operational impact.
Companies that handle their own IT often experience more downtime and the associated costs. The costs ofunexpected downtime range from $140,000 to $300,000 per hour.
Data Loss Costs
Less than 10% of companies back up their data every day and the average failure rate for properly backing up all data is a surprising 75%. Data backups gone wrong can cost you dearly.
If you need specialized drive recovery services of a crashed server, it can cost as much as $7,500.
If you work with an MSP, they can set you up with reliable data backup and recovery options that can ensure all your data is safeguarded and your backup monitored and managed so you have it to rely on should you suffer a data loss incident.
Costs of Falling Behind
Technology seems to evolve so fast that it’s hard to keep up, but time and time again, the companies that take advantage of new features that tech can offer come out ahead of their competition when it comes to serving their customers and growing their business.
In a study of consumer perceptions it was shown that in 2015, 63% of consumers thought 3 to 4-day shipping was “fast.” In 2018, only 25% still thought so.
If your technology isn’t running smoothly, then you’re left just trying to keep up rather than having the time and insight that a tech professional can offer to help you gain an advantage and better keep up with customer expectations.
Get Help Managing Your Technology & Save!
C Solutions offers a number of affordable IT services that can save you money and fit your needs perfectly.
Schedule a free consultation today to see how affordable managed services can be. Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online.