What is the bane of any business owner? If you’ve answered handling IT, you’ve hit the nail on the head! Even if many companies offer IT services, they only leave businesses with two options: either face unreasonable rates or get a set of substandard services.
This bottleneck is exactly what Hart Technology Solutions aims to solve. We don’t focus on your IT alone but also assist with business development.
Understanding how our managed service is important. This is why we’ll go over what IT service means, why your business needs it, and the different types of IT services you can benefit from.
What are IT Services?
IT (or information technology) services are quite simple to understand. It’s essentially using technical expertise to enable organizations to build, maintain, fix, and optimize both hardware and software of their systems.
Simpler version: IT companies help you create and take care of all computer-related problems.
Why You Need IT Services
Want to know how IT services can benefit your business? Here are some reasons why you need one!
Reduce Business Cost
Every business wants to improve its bottom line, and investing in an in-house IT team can cost you a lot. When hiring IT services, you eliminate the expenses on training staff and benefits such as paid leaves or holidays.
Through outsourcing IT services, you lower the training expenses and save yourself the opportunity cost that the employee will not be able to perform the tasks/leave/make mistakes.
You’re reducing all forms of overheads for your business. Having an expert will ensure you are running efficiently with round-the-clock solutions.
Minimize Downtime
We can’t afford technological failures, and when such times strike a business – a simple turn on and off of the system doesn’t always work.
It is estimated that a single hour of downtime can cause a firm to lose around $100,000. You can turn to technical support for handling minor issues. However, they may lack the expertise to address downtime and proactively keep them to a minimum.
IT support teams have the resources and employ the latest technologies to guide businesses in resolving technical troubles.
Data Protection and Security
A data breach can have an adverse effect on a business’s reputation.
Any form of sensitive data, such as financial records or customer information, cannot be risked. With managed IT services, they constantly keep an eye on suspicious activities and protect against online threats.
IT services save you from damaging data protection concerns and the hefty fines attached to them. Businesses will benefit from the optimization of or access to various advanced security solutions, including anti-virus/malware protection, 24/7 monitoring, and safe data transfer.
Types of IT Services
Now that you’ve got an idea of how information technology services work and their importance, let’s dive into 8 types of IT services that you should consider for your company.
Consultation
This one should be quite obvious. Whether meeting specific business goals or getting any common IT service, companies will help you get guidance on each.
Consultation services usually involve an experienced IT professional giving advice on a matter and assisting with implementation.
Data Backup Services
While there are different ways in which IT service providers manage your data, everything links to one thing – conserving data to counter unpredictable situations.
If you’re unfortunately met with such a problem, IT firms use disaster recovery to ensure your main business operations are up and running. Some may protect your data using cloud backup. At the same time, others may use an externally hosted data center.
Overall they use specific backup solutions, ensuring you never face downtime.
vCIO
A vCIO is quite unique and came into existence a couple of years back. A vCIO is almost similar to a normal CIO (Chief Information Officer) with one minute difference – this one is “virtual.” This usually involves a professional contractor/company managing everything in your firm that has to do with IT.
Since this can still be considered fairly new, not all service providers may be able to offer this service. However, IT firms such as Hart Technology Solutions resolve this issue by providing a vCIO to companies who require it. You can learn more about vCIOs in detail here.
Cloud Services
Next up is cloud services, an extensive phrase for all cloud computing systems resources such as SaaS (Software as a Service) or PaaS (Platform as a Service). SaaS involves software that you can pay to use on a monthly/annual basis.
Whereas, PaaS deals more with providing hardware and software that aid developers with the creation management and optimization of software applications.
A good example of SaaS would be Microsoft Office. On the other hand, platforms such as Microsoft Azure are examples of PaaS.
Managed IT
Managed IT services are provided by an MSP who handles multiple IT requirements at once. These requirements can include:
- Desk support
- Regular hardware audits
- Other cloud computing services, such as remote servers
MSPs can also offer additional IT services such as a dedicated technician, removal of any malware, 24/7 monitoring, etc. They can also help with information and business processes to streamline operations.
Network Service
From helping organizations design a network to its maintenance, network services consist of everything that pushes your network to do more than simple functions. Providing security for your network, for instance, is a type of network service. We’ll look into network security details next.
Network Security
Network security services help businesses to safeguard their network from cyber attacks via policies, practices, and procedures. Put simply, it ensures your company’s network is protected from breaches or misuse.
They include hardware and software technologies to prevent, monitor or detect any form of virtual threats.
Your business operation systems can be protected by:
- Anti-virus and anti-malware software
- Firewalls
- Data loss prevention
- Virtual private network (VPN)
Software Development
Every business has its requirements. To fulfill them, IT service providers can enable organizations to create customized applications. For instance, a startup can appoint an IT team to develop unique software that maintains its funding records.
The Bottom Line
In a nutshell, IT services are a major part of many types of businesses. To ensure your operational processes are running smoothly, these technological tools can assist your company and bring the desired results.
We use our business and technical expertise at Hart Technology Solutions to ensure you stand out from competitors and scale your company higher. If you want to incorporate IT services into your company, you can contact us here and see how we can transform how you do things!