As company profits continue to feel the pinch of rising costs and reduced revenue, many are turning to some extreme cost-saving measures, including self-managing their business’s IT solutions. While we live in an age where knowledge is often freely accessible, from the YouTube hack to online courses, when it comes to the management of a business’s IT infrastructure, the risks are high if something goes wrong.

Risks to your business security

Businesses of all sizes are experiencing the highest levels of cybercrime ever recorded, as fraudsters turn to evermore elaborate schemes to extort money and hold business assets to ransom. In 2022, Cybercrime cost each UK businesses on average £4,200, with the total cost of cybercrime to the UK economy estimated to be £27bn. SMEs can be particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks as they are less likely to have a comprehensive cyber security solution in place, which is why 81% of all UK businesses who suffer from a cyber-attack are SMEs.

As the old adage goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and so is the case for an organisation’s IT systems. Hackers are well versed in locating and targeting the weakest part of IT systems. For businesses, this is often where their tech does not join up in an integrated manner, leaving noticeable gaps for hackers to enter through an unlocked door.
When a business takes on its own IT management, such gaps are very likely to appear. This may result for one or more reasons, including:

• Opting for a cheaper IT solution that does not cover the full security needs of the business.
• Installing unchecked software and apps that may carry malware.
• Implementing a diverse range of IT solutions for different aspects of the business that leave gaps in a business’s IT security.
• Not keeping on top of updates, perhaps due to juggling different priorities, that put the business at an increased risk of cyber attacks.
• Missing reviews and audits of IT systems, which can create problems in security and business operations due to out of date or poorly functioning resources.

The hidden costs of IT self-management

While on the surface the cost-saving of self-managed IT solutions may appear significant, in reality this is unlikely to be the case, especially in the long-term. While cybercrime can be very costly to businesses that could otherwise have been protected, there are many other hidden costs that creep in with self-managed IT solutions, such as:

• The lack of contingency planning present in self-managed IT solutions that increases a business’s risk of being put out of action for long periods should their systems fail.
• The loss of operational efficiency through using outdated or inappropriate software.
• A business’s IT infrastructure becoming more fragmented over time, leading to costlier solutions being purchased down the line to prop up these systems.
• The time required to research and manage IT solutions, which could be focuses on other projects.
• Data management and archiving that is left unattended, resulting in burgeoning cloud storage costs and potential breaches of data compliance.
• Lack of high availability and/or resilience.

Opting for flexible, outsourced IT management

Outsourcing the management of your IT systems is an effective way to save your business from the costs we have outlined above. The advantage of our managed IT services is that they will always be tailored to your business, avoiding costly packages of services that you may not require. This allows for clear budgeting, enabling you to accurately forecast for your IT costs, and it allows you to adapt your service alongside your business. Most of all, you will have the assurance that your systems are running efficiently, your security is up to date and you have a team on hand ready to help when you need.

Find out more

If you would like to speak to us about the tailored IT services we can offer your organisation, please contact Andrew Wayman at andrew.wayman@sdt.co.uk or call our office on +44 (0)1344 870062.