Managed IT support for small businesses in London and the UK
SMALL BUSINESS IT SUPPORT
At help4IT we understand how damaging poor IT can be for small businesses. A poor IT service is frustrating for your staff, halts projects and prolongs issues. Poorly implemented small business IT solutions stunt your growth, exhaust your time and your budget. In addition, poorly implemented security puts your finances and your reputation at risk.
Since our inception in 2005, we have assisted a broad range of small businesses in a diverse range of sectors to implement cost-effective IT solutions covering key areas of the IT roadmap such as network and cloud implementation and management, data storage, and security. Our engineers are some of the best qualified you’ll find, and we continually invest in their training and development to ensure they are always ahead of the curve. From our base in London, we serve customers across the UK and internationally too.
The Benefits of Managed IT Support for Small Businesses
Outsourcing your small business IT requirements offers a distinct advantage over hiring staff to manage these processes in-house. Research by the Undercover Recruiter shows that the average first-year cost of hiring a new employee is £53k. By contrast, a managed IT support package for 10 users, over the space of a year, costs on average around £7k. That’s an 87% saving on the cost of hiring staff to manage your IT requirements in-house.
Reduced cost isn’t the only reason small businesses should consider outsourcing their IT requirements to a third-party specialist. A fully managed IT support solution also offers the following distinct advantages:
- You get a broader range of expertise – we’re a diverse team here at help4IT with consultants and engineers who are specialists in areas such as Linux deployment and management as well as more commonly used Microsoft systems.
- Assurance from Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – get peace of mind knowing how your IT issues will be prioritised, what timeframe we will respond within, and when you can expect issues of differing levels of urgency to be resolved.
- Remove the worry of holidays, absences, and sickness – very small businesses may only have the capacity to recruit one full-time member of IT staff, leaving you vulnerable to IT issues in the event of their absence due to sickness or holiday leave. At help4IT, we are always available during core business hours, and we can assist with emergency situations 24/7.
- The assurance of proactive monitoring and reporting – outsourced IT provides the added benefit of having a third-party continuously monitoring your systems for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The help4IT team provides security solutions to our small business clients helping them to proactively monitor their infrastructure, hardware, and software.
OUR IT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
We assist small to medium size businesses in London and across the UK in the following areas.
Audits & Roadmaps
We conduct detailed reviews of our client’s IT systems, applications and operations then put together a roadmap for optimising your set-up and meeting your long-term business objectives.
Network Set-Up
We assist our small business clients with complete network infrastructure setup and changes, including migrations to cloud-based subscription services such as Microsoft 365.
Consulting & Strategy
Working closely with you to identify ways to reduce downtime, reduce expenses, improve productivity, improve the set-up of your network, and create a coherent long-term plan.
Security & Monitoring
We help our clients dramatically reduce the risk associated with their network and devices, protect their sensitive data, and collaborate safely and seamlessly online.
Small Business IT Audits & Roadmaps
Regular IT audits are not just for enterprise-level clients with complex infrastructure. Smaller businesses that have been in operation for many years need to regularly refresh their IT strategy too, particularly when legacy equipment or software no longer meets the needs of the business.
At help4IT, our comprehensive audit process for small business clients covers all the key areas of your IT set-up including:
- Your security and firewall configuration
- Data retention and backups
- Business continuity and disaster recovery
- Hardware inventory and management
- IT performance and storage capacity
- Licensing and software
- Incident response and fix times
Following the completion of our audit, we can then put in place an IT roadmap to help you optimise your existing setup and meet your longer-term business goals.
Small Business Network Infrastructure Set-Up
Whether you require assistance with optimising the set-up of your existing infrastructure or migrating to an entirely new system, the help4IT team has many years of experience in helping our small to medium size clients with managing and modifying their IT systems.
We assist clients in the following areas:
- The set-up of your office, shop, or workspace – ensuring the physical implementation of servers, computers, phone systems, and other devices interconnect and work as you require them to.
- The set-up of your cloud infrastructure – we have assisted many clients, over the years, with moving from on-premises to cloud infrastructure, helping them to save time and money, have better access to data, and more effective disaster recovery.
- The set-up of your productivity software – ensuring that your upgrade or transition to Microsoft 365 is handled efficiently and smoothly with minimum downtime for your staff.
- The set-up of your security posture – ensuring your systems are configured for regulatory compliance and maximum protection against cyber threats.
We assist businesses in London and across the UK with the physical implementation of their network and hardware. With our Global Partner Network, we can even facilitate the requirements of your offices overseas.
Small Business IT Consulting
Our small business IT consulting services help you to understand your current or potential technology strategies and align them with your wider business objectives. Our consultants work as though they are part of your in-house IT team, helping you to assess your current infrastructure, provide guidance on what you need, suggest appropriate new technology that will work best for your needs, and map out a plan to meet your future IT goals.
This consulting process will help you to:
- Reduce downtime
- Reduce expenses
- Improve productivity
- Improve the setup of your network
- Access the best technical advice available
Small Business IT Security & Monitoring
Whilst most cyber-attacks are directed at enterprise-level organisations, smaller businesses are not immune to risk and can find themselves tackling ruinous financial and reputational damage without robust defences and procedures in place.
At help4IT, we have been assisting our small business clients with the implementation and management of their security framework since our inception in 2005. We encourage clients to upgrade or migrate to Microsoft 365 as it offers a range of cutting-edge security features that are ideal for small business customers, including:
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – ensuring that this is enforced for all users.
- Exchange Online Protection + SPF/DKIM – helping you to block malicious incoming emails and making sure your emails don’t get blocked as spam going out.
- InTune – assisting you with device management and control, an essential security component for any of your staff who are working remotely.
- Sharepoint Security – we can help you to get the best out of this collaborative platform. From a security perspective, we can help you to set the controls regarding file sharing whilst structuring permissions and data access in a manner most suited to your organisation.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) – we can help you to define and apply DLP policies in Microsoft 365 to further protect sensitive data and reduce risk.
- Cyber Essentials – outside of Microsoft 365 we can support you with the provision of internal training to your management team and staff.
Choosing the Right IT Support Partner to Help Your SME Grow
We understand that choosing an IT support provider is a critical step for growing your small business, improving its efficiency, and meeting your longer-term business objectives. As such, we encourage you to ask the following questions when assessing a potential partner to assist you with your IT requirements.
- Do they offer SLAs? – Service Level Agreements are critical to understanding the level of service you can expect from your IT partner. Be sure they can offer you one when entering into a managed IT support agreement.
- Do they have accreditations? – Check that they follow industry standards, are qualified to deal with the types of technology your business depends upon and have memberships to relevant industry bodies. At help4IT, our helpdesk is ISO 27001 and 9001 certified and our engineers cover three continents.
- Do they have previous industry experience? – Check that they have suitable case studies relevant to your industry sector and they can respond to and resolve issues specific to your business.
- Do they invest in their staff and are committed to quality improvement? – For example, through ongoing training and development initiatives.
The help4IT Advantage: An IT Company That Understands Small Business
Whether you require ad-hoc assistance with IT issues or a fully-managed small business IT support package, the help4IT team welcomes the opportunity to discuss your company’s IT issues and put in place an appropriate solution to help meet your business goals. Get in touch with our London based team today for an informal chat about how we can assist you.
