Should You Bring Your IT Support In-House?

IT support is a necessary fact in most workplaces. Computers are simply too useful and versatile as tools to be ignored. Naturally, wherever you find computers, you will find a need for some form of IT support.

For some businesses, whose use of IT is very basic – simply using computers as glorified typewriters and for email – they may very rarely find any need for help, and can more or less do without. Other companies, such as hardware and software development companies, can generally troubleshoot problems themselves.

Most businesses, of course, fall somewhere in the middle, and they will form the meat of our discussion concerning whether it’s worthwhile to bring one’s IT support in-house.

Bringing It In-House

There are various instances when it might be best to bring IT support in-house. Smaller to medium sized companies that make heavy use of computers for a range of tasks can generally get by with just having one person on staff that is familiar and confident with troubleshooting computer issues. This “handyman” type can even be someone who holds a separate role within the office alongside being responsible for computer maintenance. This can often be cheaper than contracting out IT support, and certainly makes it much more accessible.

On the other end of the scale are large companies who rely on the incredible tool that is the modern computer to do almost all of their work. In these instances, a full team of highly trained IT specialists is really the only way forward – having an IT breakdown in this sort of high-pressure environment can throw off a business schedule for weeks, and with so many computers being used daily it’s inevitable that the IT staff will be kept busy enough to justify their presence on the payroll.

IT Support On Contract

There’s a huge range of businesses, however, that fall somewhere in the middle of this scale. For these types of companies, the best way forward is to contract out their IT support to a specialist firm. This way, they can have the expert support that a medium size business that uses a lot of computers needs, without having to pay out the significant sums that a true IT specialist can command. This is often a far cheaper and more effective option, as a lot of IT troubleshooting can take place over a simple telephone call, and should a more severe problem arise, you can be assured that a specialist with the right knowledge can be found to fix the problem quickly and efficiently.

Here at Tristar IT support, we offer specialist IT support in Watford which is perfectly suited to those businesses who require specialist support from time to time, but don’t need or can’t afford to have a full IT support team on-staff. To find out more about the flexible range of services we offer, get in touch using the details on our contact page, or call us now on 01707 378453.