Top 10 IT Support Problems for SMBs and How to Deal With Them

IT is critical for every business now. Almost every business is using IT for completing their daily operations. You can use IT for growing your business quickly. There are various common IT support problems that SMBs are facing. These problems can affect your business growth.

The best way to secure your business future is by learning about the struggles that your employees and company are facing. This knowledge will help you in taking better decisions. If you know about the most common IT issues, then you can easily avoid them. In this article, we are going to talk about the top IT support problems that SMBs are facing and how you can fix them.

1. Reactive approach

Many companies are still using the reactive IT support approach. This is a big mistake as a reactive approach won’t help you in avoiding IT issues. If you are reactive, then you will only focus on repairing things. You will wait for things to break first and then you will fix them. This is a bad approach as you can lose revenue due to the downtime caused by issues.

Regular maintenance of IT systems will ensure that they are running securely and properly. If you are not regularly maintaining your systems, then even simple issues will quickly turn into time-consuming and expensive emergencies.

If you are using a proactive IT support approach, then you will have a process for tracking issues. This will allow your IT providers or teams to identify and analyze trends. Your team can check this trend. This will sometimes help you in finding even bigger issues in your IT infrastructure. If you are using a reactive IT support approach, then you will solve the same problem again and again. This can be avoided by using a proactive IT support approach.

You should look for the root cause of the problems. It will help you in solving the issue permanently. Thus, your business will become more productive. Most businesses are now moving to a proactive IT support approach.

2. Integration and migration plan

You can’t integrate new technologies with old and legacy systems. This can sometimes lead to inefficiencies and duplicate data. If you don’t have enough IT expertise, then the migration process will be a pain for your business. You need both experience and time for dealing with complex migration projects.

You should plan your migration and implementation strategy in advance. This can help you in solving some of the issues. However, you still need to spend a lot of time in the migration process. Thus, it is better to work with a good MSP.

Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in solving this problem. They can help you in both the migration and integration phases. You don’t need to worry about any downtime. Bleuwire will move all your applications and data without affecting your services.

3. Lack of Qualified or professional experience

It is difficult to find experienced IT engineers. The demand for IT engineers is increasing with time. Thus, you need to invest a lot of money into hiring the best IT engineers. However, SMBs don’t have a big IT budget. Due to this, most SMBs have access to a small IT team only.

Your IT team should focus on building your core product. You can solve this problem by working with a good MSP. Experienced MSPs have access to a large IT team. They can help you in monitoring your entire IT infrastructure. Also, they will help you in solving your IT tickets. Thus, you don’t need to worry about hiring an in-house IT support team for your business.

They will also help you in freeing up your in-house IT team. Your in-house IT team can focus on new projects. This will help you in improving your business operations. Your IT support will also become more reliable. Bleuwire will provide better IT support to both your customers and employees.

4. Security risks

Cybersecurity attacks are increasing rapidly. Almost 90% of businesses have experienced some kind of cyber attack in 2020. This is mostly due to the risk of remote work. Your employees are working from their homes. They are using their personal devices for connecting with your network. These devices are generally not secure. Thus, attackers are capitalizing on this opportunity. They are using your employee’s device for creating a backdoor in your network.

Most SMBs still think that they are not a target for attackers. Due to this, they don’t focus on protecting their data and attacker. They have become an easy target for attackers. Customer information, HR records, and other sensitive data are a gold mine for attackers. They can sell this data for financial gain. This can cause huge reputational damage to your business. In some cases, this can even permanently destroy your entire business.

There are various security solutions that you can consider. However, security strategy is not limited to security solutions only. You should also consider staff training. Staff training is one of the best ways to protect your business from attackers. Your employees should act as the first life of defense against cyber attacks. If your employees know about basic security practices, then it will become very difficult to steal your information. Your employees can alert your IT team if they see signs of attack.

5. IT Strategy and Business strategy disconnect

This is very common in SMBs. Business leaders generally don’t understand IT. They can’t fit the IT into the bigger picture. Thus, there is generally some disconnect in business and IT strategy. Some business leaders think that IT is a necessary evil. They don’t think that IT delivers any real value to the business.

If your business leaders think that IT is just a necessary evil, then you are missing out on a lot of things. It will become difficult to achieve your IT and business goals. If you want to double your business size in few years, then you need a good IT strategy. It is important to ensure that you have processes and systems in place that can help you in supporting this growth. If your business and IT strategy are perfectly aligned, then you can easily scale up your business. You don’t need to worry about any flexibility and scalability issues.

6. No Data Backup

Most SMBs still don’t have a solid data backup strategy. If you have a good backup strategy, then you easily recover your business from a data loss. More than 65% of SMBs don’t have a good backup strategy. Data backup is important for every business. Thus, you should consider creating a good data backup strategy. The costs of a data breach can easily surpass the costs of regularly backing up your data.

7. Frustrated employees

Your employees are spending most of their time interacting with technology. If they are facing frequent problems, then it will decrease their productivity. They will wait for the IT team to fix the problems. Due to this, you will pay your employees for doing no work. This can affect your overall business productivity.

You can increase your business productivity by keeping your systems up to date. It is important to make sure that your employee’s systems are working properly. This can be done by regularly monitoring and maintaining your systems. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in solving this problem. They will always check your workstations for problems. This will help you in solving problems before they even occur.

They will also help you in updating your software. Regular updates are very important for your workstations. Your software vendor will regularly update their software. This is to make sure that you are protected from the latest zero-day attacks. However, most employees don’t update their systems. This can lead to a cyber attack. MSPs can help you in remotely updating your systems. You don’t need to worry about manually updating your systems.

8. Keeping up with innovation and change

The IT sector is rapidly changing with time. It is very difficult to keep up with the latest innovation and technology. Every day there is some new technology and tool in the market. If you want to gain a competitive advantage, then you should keep up with the innovation. However, you should also differentiate between real innovation and gimmicks. Not every technology is built for your business. You need to find technologies that are built for your business.

You should have someone from the management team. They should keep up with the latest IT innovation. You also need to find new technologies that you can integrate with your current IT infrastructure.

This is going to be a tough task for SMBs. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire can help you in solving this problem. They have enough knowledge and expertise to keep up with the innovation. Bleuwire can help you in finding the right technology for your business. This will ensure that you are investing in the right technologies. A good IT support provider will make recommendations according to your business needs. They will make sure that the technology that they are suggesting is good for your business.

9. Lack of IT planning

Most SMBs don’t focus on creating an IT strategy. This mostly happens when your business and IT leaders are disconnected. Thus, it is important to ensure that your IT and business leaders are on the same page.

Your business leaders should understand that IT can help you in growing your business. You should focus on scaling up your IT infrastructure. Your IT plan should be created according to your business goals. If you want to grow your business in the future, then you should consider the IT infrastructure that you need.

Bleuwire can help you in solving this issue. They will help you in creating a perfect IT plan for your business. This IT plan will help you in addressing your business needs. Bleuwire will help you in achieving your business goals. They will make sure that your business and IT goals are aligned.

10. Software or hardware issues

If your workstations are failing frequently, then it will lead to lost productivity. It is important to make sure that both your hardware and software are working properly. You can’t fix your systems by a simple reboot if they break. If you don’t have access to the right resources, then you can’t repair your systems. Due to this, your employees can lose productivity.

Most business owners forget that all IT devices will come with a lifespan. You might think that you are buying an advanced IT device but even that device will fail after some time. Hardware manufacturers want to sell you the greatest and latest product. Due to this repairs can sometimes cost you more than purchasing a new device.

You should first create a list of all the IT devices you own. After that, you should determine the lifecycle of every IT device. You should replace your IT device before they stop working. Make sure that you are standardizing your software applications and hardware components. If you have a small IT team, then you can do this on your own. However, this is a very time-consuming process. Thus, you should consider outsourcing it to your IT support partner.

How Bleuwire can help your business?

Bleuwire can help you in saving your money and time. They will remotely monitor your network. This will ensure that your network is secure. You will also get access to a large team of IT experts. Thus, you don’t need to worry about any talent shortage. Bleuwire will provide IT support to your users. This will ensure that you don’t need to hire your own in-house IT support team. They will help you in creating a custom IT plan for your business. This plan will be created according to your business needs. If you want more information regarding IT services, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.