In our latest meet-the-client blogs, each Agile Technical Solutions client shares that having the right IT in place has made their business more efficient. Some have moved from on-premise to the cloud, others have changed security software solutions and put more robust processes in place, and all have moved to a more proactive approach to IT. Rather than waiting for problems to occur and fixing them, we help proactively stop any IT issues from becoming a problem in the first place. In effect, they’re making their business more efficient, placing them in a stronger position for growth.

As a commercially-focused Colchester-based IT partner, we always ask the question – how can we add value? So, we thought we’d share five ways IT can help make your business more efficient.

Moving to the Cloud

Moving to the cloud can make your business more efficient in several ways, including time savings, increased flexibility and scalability, boosted productivity, and the opportunity for companies to quickly adapt to changing customer needs.

Lower maintenance costs

Cloud computing eliminates the need to invest in expensive hardware, software, and maintenance. Instead, you pay for only the resources you use and can scale up or down as needed. Moreover, the cloud provider updates and maintains both the server and the application software, relieving you of financial responsibility.

Cloud providers such as us also invest heavily in IT Security measures, making it easier for you to secure your data and applications without having to invest in your own security infrastructure.

Lower energy costs

Depending on your company’s size and IT needs, cloud computing can lower energy costs in several ways.

According to a Microsoft-WSP study, cloud computing can improve energy efficiency by as much as 93%.

How is this the case? Well, with cloud computing, companies can reduce their hardware requirements by storing their data and applications on remote servers. This eliminates the need for on-premise servers, which consume significant energy.

Pay for what you need.

Another cost benefit of moving to the cloud is that there are no hidden fees, so you do not have any unpleasant surprises. Plus, you only pay for what you require, which with Agile Technical Solutions, means a fixed fee pricing model that helps with cash flow and IT budgeting.

Set an IT Budget

One of the biggest ways you can make your business more efficient is by setting budgets, which is especially important when it comes to IT.

Setting an IT budget can help you reduce costs in the following ways:

• Prioritise spending: By setting an IT budget, you can prioritise your spending and allocate resources to the most important IT projects and initiatives. This helps you avoid wasting money on low-priority projects that may not have a significant impact on your business.
• Controlling expenses: An IT budget helps you control your expenses by limiting spending and ensuring that you stay within your budget. This prevents overspending and helps you avoid unexpected costs that can strain your finances.
• Identifying inefficiencies: An IT budget can help make your business IT operations more efficient by tracking your expenses and comparing them to your budget. This allows you to identify areas where you can reduce costs, such as by consolidating services, eliminating redundant hardware, or optimising software licensing – all things that we routinely help our clients
• Negotiating with vendors: An IT budget helps you negotiate with vendors by providing you with a clear understanding of your spending requirements and limitations. This allows you to negotiate better pricing, terms, and conditions, which can result in significant cost savings. Although we do this on behalf of our clients – another advantage of having an IT partner.
• Forecasting future expenses: An IT budget helps you forecast your future expenses by estimating your IT needs and costs for the upcoming year. This allows you to plan ahead and make informed decisions about your IT investments, which can help you avoid unexpected costs and budget overruns. For most of our clients, we hold a yearly review to check that we are doing everything that we can to manage IT expenditure.

Automating IT

Automation solutions can save your business countless hours by reducing time-consuming, repetitive tasks, and freeing your team to work on more productive activities.

Let’s take a closer look at how automating IT can make a business more efficient.

Eliminating manual tasks: Automating routine and repetitive IT tasks, such as software updates, backups, and security checks, eliminates the need for manual intervention. This saves time and reduces the risk of human error.

Streamlining workflows: Automating IT workflows, such as service desk requests, incident management, and change management, streamlines the process and reduces the time required to complete tasks. This improves efficiency and productivity.

Improving system availability: Automated monitoring and management of IT systems can detect and fix issues before they become critical (a key component in our IT Support Services). This reduces system downtime and the time required to resolve issues, improving system availability and user productivity.

Accelerating IT Solutions: Automating software and updates, such as operating system upgrades and patches, can significantly reduce the time required to deploy these changes. This minimises the impact on users and ensures that systems are up-to-date and secure.

Enhancing reporting: Automated reporting of IT data and performance metrics eliminates the need for manual data collection and analysis. This saves time and provides valuable insights into IT operations and performance.

Create IT Security Awareness

As our colleagues at Essex Police and Cyber Essentials will tell any business, cyber awareness training for staff more than pays for itself. It’s a critical component of an organisation’s IT Security.

Cyber awareness training supports employees in understanding the importance of cyber security and the role they play in protecting their organisation’s data and systems – both business-critical assets. Crucially, it teaches them how to recognise and avoid common cyber threats, such as phishing emails and social engineering scams.

Likewise, cyber awareness training can help employees understand what to do in the event of a cyber attack or security incident. This includes reporting incidents promptly and taking appropriate action to contain and mitigate the impact of the incident. After all, the sooner a threat is identified, the less harm it can do.

Another major benefit of cyber awareness training is that it can help employees understand their legal and regulatory obligations related to data protection and privacy. This can help organisations avoid costly fines and penalties for non-compliance.

Without experiencing an IT security breach or cyber attack, it’s hard to put an exact value on cyber awareness training, but there’s one thing for sure – if the worse did happen, you’d have wished that you had a more robust internal awareness programme.

Outsourcing your IT Support

Outsourcing IT Support can be more cost-effective than hiring and training in-house staff. This is because outsourced providers such as Agile Technical Solutions have specialised expertise and experience in managing IT systems, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data management. This allows you to tap into the knowledge and experience of IT experts who can help optimise your IT infrastructure and processes.

Most importantly, outsourcing IT Support can provide scalability, allowing you to adjust your IT Support Services based on your current needs. This means that you can quickly ramp up or down your IT support without incurring the costs of hiring or firing employees.

Whether you require fully managed IT or need help with one type of IT Support, Agile Technical Solutions can provide a tailored solution. Our fixed monthly IT Support fees include proactive monitoring and maintenance of your network as well as remote and onsite IT support, so you can be rest assured that everything is working as it should, your data and systems are protected and your IT costs are kept under control.

Contact us today for a free no-obligation meeting to discuss how we could help make your business more efficient.