The last 12 months have seen a significant shift in technological demands for businesses. Working from home, meeting remotely and even recruitment are all examples of massive changes in our normal working routines. For many, this will not have come without unforeseen challenges such as internet speeds, do I use Microsoft Teams or Zoom, and navigating working in the same space as your partner. One thing is certain, your business is important, and being online is now more critical than ever.

 Can you manage your increasing IT requirements in house? The short answer is yes. There are many benefits to covering your own IT. One of the main benefits is the understanding you would have over your internal infrastructure and the control over your internal systems that you would be familiar with from implementation. Speed is another benefit of having a team on site, whether it be for an immediate need or for close monitoring or management of an ongoing project. Also, having your own IT team means you maintain control over who it is you employ and what skillset it is you require them to have.

 However, there is a distinct difference depending on your size of business as to whether you can implement a full-scale IT team or whether you can simply have an ‘IT Guy’. The latter causes issues when they are on annual leave or out of the office, and the former can work out very costly. According to Glassdoor.com the average salary of an IT Manager in the UK is approximately £40k. Furthermore, outsourcing your IT can open your business to a wider range of expertise than you may be able to achieve by employing your own team in-house or ‘IT Guy’. By outsourcing you minimize the risk of your requirements becoming overwhelming whether it be with ongoing IT maintenance or resolving IT issues. Considering the upcoming changes in IR35 legislation, outsourcing to a business may be the least complicated and most cost-effective solution.

 So, you have decided to outsource your IT, but what do you really need? Instead of waiting for technical difficulties to become larger problems and potentially causing downtime, issues can be identified and fixed before they have an impact. Making good choices in Hardware and software are good first steps. Reviews are helpful in achieving this but seeking consultancy from your IT provider can save money being spent rectifying or modifying issues that could have been prevented. On the same level of importance, expanding your business to the cloud is proving to be essential for business continuity. In the present day your employees need to be able to access your documents and systems from anywhere at any time without any glitches or authorization issues. Remote management can remove the pressure of managing the above problems and allows your business to be supported remotely. Reducing downtime is one of the primary aims of procuring outsourced IT, as well as the available consultancy to ensure your business is making controlled and successful IT decisions. 

Validions offers scalable packages dependent on your business needs. Having over 70 years combined experience supporting the Healthcare industry, our IT Experts are trained in complying with the tight regulations set out by the MHRA and FDA. Validions has since expanded to offer support to non-regulated industries whilst maintaining our core values, therefore supporting your business in line with the standard demanded by regulated industries. Our aim is to lower the barrier of entry to obtaining this support, and that is why all our packages are purchasable through our website from April 2021. We aim to streamline the onboarding process to reduce the time it takes to get your business covered and achieve peace of mind.