When organisations consider ways to cut costs, spending on business services will likely be at the bottom of the list if it’s there at all. After all, you probably won’t see an IT support engineer from your service provider around very often, so it’s easy to forget how important they are to your business.

Being prepared for all situations and having a contingency plan is essential for small businesses to succeed. So without computer support, how would you recover from a major IT failure or emergency? While paying for expert IT advice and assistance can be seen as a hindrance to saving money, it could prevent you from being in a future position where you are charged an expensive bill for fixing issues or recovering from a technology disaster.

Here are a few ways in which outsourcing your IT support needs can result in saving money in the long term.

Time is money

It’s a business cliché that always rings true. In business, time equals money and it is shocking how much time can be wasted by a technology failure. Whether it’s the business owner wasting time trying to fix something themselves when they’re not trained to do so, or a system glitch which stops work altogether for all of the staff, each moment lost is affecting the business revenue. If you had a computer support engineer on hand to call, the problem would be resolved as soon as possible and work would resume. Think of the time and money lost on staff members trying to deal with technological issues which an engineer could fix straight away.

Cost saving advice

Paying for an IT support service means you have unlimited access to professional advice and expertise. This expert guidance from an outsider could actually help the business to run more efficiently, which could lead to cost savings. For example, an engineer could recommend the industry approved hardware when it’s time for you to replace some equipment, which could last for longer. An engineer would also be on hand to improve functionality where there isn’t an IT department to do so.

Reduce IT spend

You don’t have to spend a fortune each month on IT support which you don’t necessarily need. You can reduce costs and save money in the business without sacrificing that peace of mind of IT assistance when you require it. Switch your IT services contract for a pay as you go option, which could be beneficial if you rarely have computer issues. Rather than paying an annual contract, you’ll only pay for the support you actually use.

You can have it both ways – enjoy continuous expert IT support and save cash at the same time.