Five Reasons It Makes Sense for a Solopreneur to Have Managed I.T. Support
Sooner or later you are going to have a technology problem that you can’t solve; an I.T. service provider will help you solve that problem faster, so you can get back to your work, which isn’t I.T. support. Your time is valuable, when you spend that time focused on something other than your expertise, you devalue your time. A Managed I.T. service provider will not only solve your computer problems faster, they will also prevent a lot issues from happening in the first place.
For the most part, humanity solves a lot of their own problems. I repaired a light fixture in my home last weekend, it felt good. I’d actually texted my journeyman electrician cousin for help, he ghosted me, and then I solved my own problem. It was touch and go there, electricity freaks me out. Solepreneurs are hardwired to solve their own problems, whether that is accounting, sales, government red tape, or computer problems.
So why should you pay a monthly service fee to establish a relationship with your I.T. service provider? Why not just call and get help when you need it? The five reasons are access to help, time to resolution, cost, prevention, and expertise.
Access to Help
My light fixture problem wasn’t dire, but what if it was something bigger, like the my Netflix couldn’t get power. My cousin didn’t get back to me. I could have called another electrician, but who, my cousin knows my house and I know him. I probably would have just suffered it out until I nagged him some more and he finally came over.
Having a service provider firmly in place, unlike my cousin, means that when you have a problem, you know who to call, and they pick up the phone. Your managed I.T. service provider will install tools on your computer, and even your WiFi, and they can solve your problems without setting a foot in your home. I don’t know any electrician that can do that!
Time to Resolution
What if you had to wait for a computer tech to come to your house every time you had a problem? What if you had to wait on hold, and then remain on the phone to click stuff and type stuff every time you had a problem? Or worse, what if you had to figure it our yourself? That stuff takes time, your valuable time. Your managed I.T. service provider has multiple people available to solve your problem when you need it.
Cost
Does that sound expensive? Well it isn’t really. $5 a month, buys you access to help and time to resolution. The be honest, that includes a really, really good anti-virus program, which you’d pay roughly $2.50 per month and need anyway; and so for an extra $2.50 a month you get access to help and time to resolution. Can you even by a coffee for two dollars and fifty cents?
Prevention
For $5 a month, you can have a little prevention, that is the point of the anti-virus. For $10, $15, $20, and $25 a month, you can have even more preventive tools. Tools such as behavior based anti-virus, DNS firewall, proactive software maintenance, and hardware firewall. You get what you pay for, plus some, and you never have to ask yourself, “am I protected?”
Expertise
Finally, you have an expert in your back pocket. Need to buy a new computer? We can help that right choice; so often people come to us when it too late. Need better WiFi? We can help. Need advice on cloud? We know cloud. Are you taking on an employee or new office? We’ve been there and done that.
An I.T. service provider can help you run your micro enterprise better and faster than you taking on all your current and future technology challenges yourself. Your computer will “just work”, and you will be able to focus on your work.