The most important IT services for your small business in 2022.

Max Pierce – December 2, 2021

In this article, we will break down what the most IT services for your small business are. The new year is coming up and it’s time to get serious about your business’s technology.

Properly managed technology can be a serious growth lever for many small businesses. We constantly find companies that are operating inefficiently because of their outdated tech.

Think about how much revenue you lose when you have just an hour of downtime. How often is that downtime because of a technical problem? We would wager it’s more often than not.

That’s why outsourcing your technology management is so beneficial. You get to be a business owner and do what you are good at. We get to be your technology manager and do what we are good at.

The best part of outsourcing your tech is that it usually saves your business money as well. We love in-house tech people (we had those jobs at one point) but it’s really hard to be good at everything in tech, it’s just too broad.

That’s where a managed service provider comes in.

We don’t take sick days, or take vacations, or take maternity leave. If you are operating, we are operating.

We have qualified people for every nuanced part of managing your business technology.

We provide excellent customer support. Seriously, we take our client relationships to the next level.

But you may be wondering, what managed IT services does my small business need? That’s a great question. Let’s dig a little deeper.

The most important IT services for small business by industry.

You may notice most industries are left out from this list. At Techfive we specialize in providing IT services for small business, specifically manufacturers, healthcare providers, and construction companies so that is the focus of this article. If you want more generalized insights check out our article on remote managed IT services.

Most Important IT Services for Healthcare Providers:

The purpose of health IT is to provide better care for your patients and protect that patient data. The right managed service provider should be able to do both.

To effectively scale (and protect) your operations, here is what our experts at Techfive recommend:

Breach mitigation services – you have private patient health data on file. This data is very lucrative to cyber attackers. You have a legal obligation to protect that patient data under HIPPA guidelines and maintain compliance.
- Tip: you may have to pay out serious fines if you lose ePHI in a cyber incident. Staying compliant with HIPPA guidelines is of utmost importance.
BYOD (bring your own device) support – the nature of work in 2021 and beyond is that workforces are integrated between the home and the office. Protecting and managing these assets is a necessity.
Remote work support
Proactive HIPPA security and compliance services
Data backup and recovery services

This just scratches the surface of what a fully operational IT services for you small business would look like. The scope of that question is too big for this article. Reach out to us if you are interested in getting a complete plan of action put together for your practice.

Most Important IT Services for Manufacturers:

As I’m sure those of you in the industry are aware, manufacturing companies have very unique IT needs.

In our experience, our clients in the manufacturing industry lean heavily on IT for day-to-day operations.

A good IT provider for your manufacturing company should be able to assist with logistics, production, supply chain, MRP/ERP systems management, help maintain compliance and provide cyber security services.

To operate in complex, multiple location environments, here are the services our manufacturing guys at Techfive recommend:

Compliance management services – every business collects data in some way. Generally speaking, all of this data has different sets of rules, risks, and compliance burdens. You need to stay compliant, the only way to do so is by meticulously tracking, analyzing, capturing, and safely transmitting your data. A qualified IT provider can do that for you.
- Do you manufacture products for the US government/military as part of the defense-industrial base? Look into the CMMC cyber security framework for your compliance/security needs.
Cyber security services – cyber security is no longer an afterthought. Your business is at risk of a cyber incident. Protecting sensitive data is vital to prevent a ransomware event from occurring. If you are ignoring cybersecurity right now, you are going to regret it. The trends we are seeing in the cyber world aren’t slowing down, you need to get ahead of the curve.
Rapidly scalable cloud IT services – your IT service provider needs to be able to adjust to your business’s ever-changing needs.
BYOD (bring your own device) support – the nature of work in 2021 and beyond is that workforces are integrated between the home and office (or multiple sites). Protecting and managing these assets is a necessity.

Insider Insight: With the rise of industry 4.0, keeping up with the rapidly changing manufacturing industry environment is a must. Automation, artificial intelligence, and cloud-based solutions are the future. Getting ahead of the curve could be your competitive advantage.

Want a complete guide on everything you need to know about Manufacturing IT? Check out our full guide here.

Most Important IT Services for Startups:

Things move fast in the startup world. Bringing on a managed technology partner may seem too pricey for your new company. The importance of getting your technology management right early can’t be overstated, you could lose out on millions in revenue growth because of inefficient technology and systems.
Not only can you scale more rapidly with a dedicated IT partner. You can avoid suffering from a cyber attack. A cyber attack could easily shut the lights off on your business…permanently. Small businesses are the new favorite target of ransomware attackers. Ignoring cyber security is dangerous in 2021 & 2022.
Can you think of any other business risk that could shut you down forever in less than a day? That’s the risk you face ignoring cybersecurity.
Rapid growth requires a rapidly-changing IT environment. Here are the IT services we would recommend to your startup:

Cyber security services – you have data to protect even if you don’t think you do. Ransomware attackers don’t care about causing harm to your livelihood. The cost of protecting your business is worth it.
WFH support – the nature of work in 2021 and beyond is that workforces are integrated between the home and office. Managing this can be a tedious complex process. A good IT provider can handle this for you, we know you are busy.
Rapidly scalable cloud-based IT services – As you grow, your IT provider needs to be able to grow alongside you.
BYOD (bring your own device) support

Does this sound a little too time-consuming to work on right now? Hop on a quick call with our team here at Techfive and we can show how we make this work for our other startup clients.

Most Important IT Services for Construction companies:

In our experience, construction is a fast-paced industry with a huge need for immediate support as technology issues arise.
An effective managed IT service provider will be able to manage your unique industry requirements such as managing multiple sites (some temporary), frequent changes to the number of users, configuring and supporting portable applications, and managing remote job duties.
Our team at Techfive has worked with construction companies for many years, here is what we recommend to our current construction clients:

Multi-location support – you are constantly moving to new sites, your tech needs to be able to move with you.
Portable applications & mobile device support and configuration
Remote work support
Cyber security services – protecting electronic files and data. Your data is very valuable to cyber attackers, protecting it is a must for any modern organization.

There is a lot more that goes into developing a comprehensive managed service plan for your construction company. If you are interested in learning more, hop on a quick call with our team. We can help you figure exactly what IT services your construction company needs.

Most Important IT Services for Goverment:

While not exactly a business, we often find small government entities need a lot of help with IT support. Your office probably has a significant amount of customer data on hand. This makes you a prime target for cyber attackers.
Protecting these assets is vital, suffering from a ransomware event could mean a complete halt of operations. For most government entities, this is not acceptable. A good MSP can navigate your tight and constantly changing budget restrictions to provide needed services.
Our team at Techfive works with various government entities from police stations to city offices. Here is what we recommend:

Cloud-based IT services – managing your constituent-facing applications and portals that provide vital services.
Cyber security services – as a government agency, you are the perfect target for cyber-criminals. If you are from the 4-states area like we are. You may have heard about the Joplin MO ransomware event that recently occurred. They are taking ransomware seriously now and so should you.
1. Just because you have a limited budget doesn’t mean there isn’t value in taking your data hostage. Ransomware attackers can get paid by ransom or by selling your private consumer data online. They don’t care about your budget, they will find a way to get paid.
Data backup and recovery services

Once again, it is important to realize these are only a few components to a fully-featured managed service plan for your agency. We have to be able to dig deeper into your network to provide more extensive insights.
If you are interested, please reach out to us directly and we can help you develop a fully-featured managed services plan for your agency.

Insider Insight: You may have noticed a trend in these recommendations.

Cyber security is recommended for every business vertical. We are no longer in a time where cyber security can be an afterthought.

The cost of cyber-crimes reached $2.7 billion in 2020 alone. Cyber attacks are more common than ever and are constantly trending upwards. It’s time you get ahead of the curve.

Not sure if you are at risk? Read our guide on doing a cyber security assessment of your business to find out.

Wrapping up

There is your rundown on what managed IT services we would recommend for your business based on your industry. This is not a comprehensive list but it is a great starting point if you are just getting started or considering changing your provider.

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I appreciate you taking the time to read this to the very end. If you still need to know more, let’s chat.