It used to be that “marketing” was the black hole of a company’s budget. CFOs who used to roll their eyes every time the “M” word was mentioned find themselves in a similar stance when another word is now mentioned. That word is “technology.”
In small to midsized companies, in-house IT talent is highly tactical — not strategic. As a result, the company continues to make investments in technology without a defined long-term strategy. That turns technology from a productivity booster to a drain.
A recent survey of 900 CIOs conducted by Gartner Research found that the average loss of productivity due to IT office issues costs a business an average of $3,200 per employee. Keep in mind these are large companies that have CIOs and sophisticated strategy and processes. The small- and medium-sized company is doing a lot worse.
BOSI Global found that companies with 20 to 500 employees are losing as much per employee in productivity per month due to crashing in-house servers — the proverbial “blue screen of death” at the individual desktop level — and a total lack of strategy and process on mobile device management.
Stop wasting your time
Because small- and medium-sized companies are limited in sophisticated in-house IT talent, they find themselves in break/fix mode most of the time. Those who can afford it outsource the break/fix to a local firm or even engage a managed service provider. That solves some of the productivity problem. But then the financial drain begins.
Companies are paying high hourly fees and lucrative retainers to third-party firms that essentially “monitor” status. If and when a device needs to be replaced, the company still gets the bill for the device, the installation and more. Enter the world of unpredictable IT costs, which can be frustrating to say the least.
It’s no surprise CEOs and CFOs of small- to medium-sized companies have begun to look for an alternative to traditional IT. Gone are the days when owning your own servers and showing off a beautiful server room were a source of pride and credibility. Today, they are a reminder of a money pit like no other.
Learn from the big guys
This is one of the few times where a smaller company CEO or CFO can learn something from the big boys. The Fortune 1000 — despite robust in-house talent — has moved infrastructure to data centers (also known as the cloud). These leaders have done their homework, studied the data and almost unanimously made the transition.
Operating your IT infrastructure from the cloud is more efficient, safer and cost effective. Every company with 20 or more users should conduct a cost-of-ownership analysis. Most will find they can dramatically reduce long-term expenses, virtually eliminate capX related to IT and have a more robust infrastructure that can scale effortlessly.
IT should be a worry-free enabler of your business and a profit center. If that’s not the case for your business, it’s time for some strategy.
