SMEs, or small and medium-sized enterprises, are frequently rising. Considering this fact, the world will have around 400 million small and medium-sized enterprises in 2024, according to a report. Many of them lack IT support, which proves a big roadblock to their productivity and competitiveness.
Let’s figure out the most common IT support issues or problems that these companies frequently face.
5 Common IT Support Problems and Their Solutions
Let’s determine what common problems any business faces in this digital world.
Data security and cyber threats
Problem: Considering a 2020 fact presented by a renowned IT company, 28% of cases of data infringement target small businesses. This many cases of malicious attempts can significantly cause massive data loss and reputational damage. Even some legal consequences can be challenging to overcome or endure. It shows the continuity in the count of online malicious attempts.
Solution:
However, this IT problem is threatening. With small efforts, businesses can implement and come across those online security threats. These strategies have been proven to resolve these cases:
- Comprehensive Security Measures: Start with a strong focus on antivirus software, firewall management, and systems that can detect intrusion automatically. Invest to resolve these matters. Another significant method is to find updates to the installed systems, like antivirus, so that the possible threat can be predicted.
Invest in robust antivirus software, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems. Regularly update these tools to protect against the latest threats and employ best practices like recognizing phishing attempts and integrating strong passwords.
- Employee Training: To overcome this problem, a trained employee is helpful. A report claims that human-generated errors are responsible for up to 95% of online security breaches. It creates the need for timely training of existing staff relating to cybercrimes.
- Regular Backups: Schedule regular data backups, directing data for backups to a secure location separate from the main storage, which can be a server or cloud, to secure sensitive data. Under the guidance of IT consultants, it won’t be an uphill battle.
- Access Controls: Proactively implement strict access controls so that only authorized professionals can access sensitive information. Implementing multi factor authentication can also prove a wise decision to secure data.
Insufficient IT infrastructure
Problem: The very next common IT problem is outdated IT infrastructure. It looks like an ordinary office with networking, storage, and computer systems. SMEs face a threat from old IT infrastructure because it proves the foremost reason for slow back-office operations, frequent downtime, and low productivity.
Many small businesses struggle with outdated or insufficient IT infrastructure, which can lead to slow performance, frequent downtime, and lost productivity. A survey confirms that 73% of SMEs prioritize breathing fresh air into their IT infrastructure.
Solution
To modernize IT infrastructure, many things should be kept in mind, which are:
- Assessment and Planning:
A thorough analysis of existing IT infrastructure is a necessity. It can reveal weaknesses and gaps to enhance and update the infrastructure. A customized strategy can help address this problem.
- Cloud Computing: Instead of updating, refer to transitioning to cloud-based solutions. These IT solutions will enhance your business’s flexibility and scalability at a low cost. However, cloud solutions can cut costs by minimizing significant upfront hardware investment and data accessibility.
- Hardware Upgrades: Deploy modern equipment like faster computers, SSDs, servers, etc.
- Managed IT Services: A managed IT services provider (MSP) is the one who ensures monitoring, maintenance, and IT consultancy from time to time. An MSP can foresee potential problems before they are escalated.
Lack of IT support and expertise
Problem: The small or medium size of an enterprise can be the reason for lacking in-house IT expertise. This problem is a big concern because a small flaw can cause downtime for hours or days. And these problems remain as-is unless you hire IT engineers to troubleshoot and maintain the system effectively.
Small businesses often lack in-house IT expertise, making it difficult to troubleshoot issues and maintain systems effectively. The whitepaper by Cisco confirms that 74% of small businesses hire IT support experts from outside to fulfill their requirements.
Solution:
Insufficient IT assistance and inadequate expertise can be achieved through these solutions:
- Hiring IT professionals: Hiring a dedicated IT engineer can be
· If budget allows, hire dedicated IT staff to manage and support the business’s technology needs. This ensures quick resolution of issues and proactive system management.
· Outsourcing IT Support: For many small businesses, outsourcing small business IT support is a more viable option. Outsourced IT support can provide access to a team of experts without the need for full-time staff, reducing costs and ensuring professional handling of IT issues.
· Training Existing Staff: Provide training opportunities for current employees to enhance their IT skills. This can reduce dependence on external support and empower staff to handle basic IT problems.
Scalability Issues
Problem: Small businesses tend to grow, which evolves IT requirements. Many struggle to scale their IT infrastructure because of an imbalance between current resources and potential needs. This inadequacy causes bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Solution:
Certainly, bringing balance and ensuring scalability are big challenges, which SMEs can beat by embracing flexibility. Here is how it can be done:
- Cloud Solutions: Establishing cloud services can help meet scaling up or down demands without breaking the bank. These companies can deploy cloud storage, SaaS, and IaaS to resolve scalability-based issues.
- Modular Systems: Modular IT systems can help overcome the demand for easy expansion. For example, establishing an additional networking device can prevent a huge investment in a complete overhaul.
- Scalable Software: Choose your software wisely, which can scale up, endure data loads, and smoothly work with a more complex workflow without the need for significant reconfiguration.
Cost Management
Problem: SMEs focus on saving even a single penny. This is the case for those enterprises that allocate limited budgets for IT. A study states that Deloitte surveyed and found that 45% of SMEs consider cost-management imperative.
Solution:
The cost can be effectively managed in these ways.
- Budget Planning: Rely on a budget plan, which encompasses both current and future needs relating to hardware, software, maintenance, and unexpected expenses.
- Leverage Open Source: Over the internet, open-source software solutions are available in a wide range of These software are able to significantly reduce software licensing costs, such as Apache Atlas, Tensorflow, etc.
- Subscription Models: If your demand is continuously increasing, select subscription-based services over outright purchases. It may cost more, but over time, updates and support will be inclusive. So, it won’t be pricey.
- Regular Audits: Include auditing as a regular practice. It helps in determining gaps and flaws in your IT systems. Timely awareness will lead to the decommissioning unused software licenses and renegotiating vendor contracts.
Conclusion
The most common IT support problems are associated with its effective management, robust security measures, modernization, and cost management. A business can manage them effectively by preparing IT infrastructure and budget strategies.