Ignore the Crystal Ball: Future-Proof Your Business by Outsourcing Your IT

There’s a meme going around the Internet at the moment that says: ‘At least no-one was right in 2015 when they were asked “where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?”’ Whilst it’s a good example of some situational dry humour, making light of the strange, ‘unprecedented’ time that we all find ourselves in, it’s a sound reminder that we can never know exactly what’s going to happen over the next few years ahead.

Whilst we can make educated guesses or review previous years, deciding on budgets and planning future business strategy can be difficult as none of us can accurately see into the future. However, throw away the crystal ball and step away from the horoscopes – here’s our top 3 reasons why outsourcing your IT can future-proof your business.

1. Reduce your IT costs by 30%

How does saving 30% of your IT costs sound? Many businesses in many different sectors have been hit financially during Q2, when COVID-19 and the safety measures around it were put in place. Moving into the second half of the year, businesses looking to recoup funds and de-risk further, should look no further than outsourcing their managed IT services.

At Retail Assist, we work as an extension of your existing team, meaning that you can work with a reduced team or even hand over your IT operations for us to run, so that you can still receive high quality IT support whilst reaping cost savings. We run a 24/7 IT Help Desk (in fact, it’s won quite a few awards… have a look here) but you can also tap into our team of PRINCE-2 qualified project managers, receive desktop support services (perfect for head offices that are working from home) and enjoy a whole host of other managed IT services that can ensure your operations aren’t affected wherever and whenever people are working.

2. Free up your IT team

It’s no secret that the importance of digital commerce and the role technology plays in supporting the customer journey has never been more crucial to business success. However, if your CIO, Head of IT and other IT managers are having to focus on the day-to-day development and management of services, rather than planning for the bigger picture, outsourcing your IT can free up their time to focus on the stuff that matters.

Simon Brealy, Global Service Delivery Manager at Ted Baker, explained just that: “Our service desk were looking after many hundreds of office based employees alongside looking after our retail partners. Since partnering with Retail Assist, we’ve been able to develop what (the service delivery within) Ted’s IT delivers; rather than focusing on 1st and 2nd line tickets coming in across our European estate, they’re now 100% dealt with by Retail Assist.

“Because of the standard Retail Assist has delivered to us, my service delivery teams have been able to focus much more on proactively supporting the business and focusing more on the project deliveries, which has in turn had a much more positive impact on the wider business.”

3. Share the knowledge

Sadly, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may continue for some time and, with that, comes the potential for further spikes and subsequent lockdowns. If key IT team members are unable to work, for whatever reason, your business could be under threat if they’re the only ones that hold specific skills and knowledge. We are ISO-20000 compliant, meaning that not only are our procedures shared internally, updated and centralised, no matter what the issue is, our tech experts are on hand to pre-empt and solve any issues that might occur. With over 21 years of supporting retail, hospitality, local councils and logistics customers, what our tech experts don’t know isn’t worth knowing.

We pride ourselves on our thorough implementations and quick turnarounds – let us support your IT vision of the future. Click here to get in touch.