For many small businesses outsourcing the management and support of all their technology has become an incredible way to greatly reduce their technology costs and focus on their core competencies. Everything from budgeting and implementing security policies to routine desktop troubleshooting can be outsourced.

What is outsourcing?
Companies that fix and install computers have been around as long as computers have, but only in the last four years has outsourcing begun to take the dominant role that technology firms provide, especially to small businesses. Years ago many service firms focused solely on break-fix work and much of the work done was reactive. Only large firms had the resources to focus on proactive strategies for their technology. Since then much of the hardware and software has become commoditized and the value proposition of any technology solution has been placed not on features or cost but on the tactical. Many service firms are rising to the challenge and going beyond being repair shops and providing the roles of an outsourced CIO, CTO and a fully managed help desk. Where this becomes especially important for small businesses is that this has become another advantage to small businesses along with the lowered costs and learning curve of hardware and software. It’s rare that a small business can afford a fully staffed IT department let alone even one single full timer. Outsourcing its IT operations allows a small business to have a virtual IT department but only pay for what they need and with that also comes a broader skill set from a diverse group of people that are on top of all the latest products and technologies and have established best practices; and are not re-inventing the wheel on your dime.

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