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Category: SME

The True Cost Of “One-Off” IT Support

To many small business owners it may seem perfectly logical to bring in an IT support specialist as and when you have an identified need. But the reality is that the one-off approach to IT support issues leaves many holes and doubts and it can prove expensive.

We work with business owners and senior management of organizations with less that 200 staff providing a one-stop shop for all their IT infrastructure needs. We have been doing since 1996. Over this time we regularly come across the same, repeated concerns facing SME management. Regardless of business sector, the same challenges continue to crop up.  One of the big recurring issues is to do with the cost – the true cost – of one-off IT support.


“We don’t know what we don’t know…”

 

This issue of the true cost of one-off support falls into the “we don’t know what we don’t know” category.

For many owners of small businesses, dealing with IT support and maintenance is  the same as dealing with car maintenance. In other words, it’s OK with the “known knowns” e.g. a printer isn’t working/a tire is flat, BUT how do you deal with the “unknown unknowns”? How do you deal with the problems that I don’t know about, like security, malware protection, data leakage?


A lack of consistency leads to cost in-efficiency

 

Over reliance on “one-off” support can expensive. Here is a typical scenario:  You have a problem, for example User A can’t print, so you get external technical support to come in and fix it. They update the printer software and get User A printing and leave. BUT, the very next day, Users B & C can’t print either, so you call the IT support people back in again for yet another fix ….AND yet another fee!

The business impact of your over-reliance on one-off support means that you do not have the consistency and cost efficiency of a centralised and holistic approach that would instead install printers centrally, and roll out appropriate changes and updates to all users via a centralised policy.

Two further examples of how the small business owner’s lack of knowledge is a big exposure for the business:

[1] You bring in external IT support to solve a problem and yet they break other components…and you have know way of knowing.

[2] You can’t determine whether quotes to repair/upgrade are valid, realistic and appropriate.


If you would like to discuss this issue and what it means for your business, please get in touch. Since inception in 1996, PASR Technologies has been providing SME business owners with a level of service and support to the SME business owner that is typically only directly available in very large organisations.

Servicing businesses from 10 to up to 200 employees, our clients range from local SMEs through to regional offices of larger MNCs, and include airlines.

At PASR Technologies, we solve your IT problems before you even realize you have one!

 

The Qualities Of A Trusted Advisor

There is a lot of talk in consulting circles about the need for IT services providers to move beyond being excellent technicians and become trusted advisors.

So what does this mean in practise?

Business owners of companies with under 200 staff do not have access/budget to have an IT Director. However, by employing the services of a virtual IT director who acts as a Trusted Advisor the business owner can receive timely and appropriate advice for their business situation.

In this context, the virtual IT director will meet formally with the business owner on a regular basis to discuss strategy concerning technology platform and direction. The major benefit of this is that the business owner thus does not need to be IT-literate to make informed decisions about how to use IT to the best advantage in the business.

The alternative – and usual route for so many business owners – is to rely on one-off consultants and vendors who have the obvious agenda of wanting to push and sell their own products/services.


So what’s special about a Trusted Advisor?

Jason Haddock in his excellent blog “What does it mean to be a trusted advisor?” makes the excellent point that what lies at the heart of building a trusted relationship is TRUST!

In  Mick Cope’s book, “The Seven C’s of Consulting” he outlines a great acronym for trust:

  • Truthful
  • Responsive
  • Uniform
  • Safe
  • Technically Competent

According to a recent survey: first and foremost they are great communicators – “they communicate the invisible well”. They must also display superior creativity in “listening to client issues and creating a solution strategy that clearly shows how it solves the problem quickly and thoroughly”.

Another key quality is the ability to seize the initiative, Trusted Advisors “take ownership of the client more, whereas average performers take ownership of the problem”.

Putting the client first is another key attribute: “always seeking ways to provide a greater value to the customer.”

What Separates Trusted Advisors from Everybody Else?

Jim Alexander is founder of Alexander Consulting and he has conducted research with 80 senior executives to provide some direction in learning how trusted advisors act differently from others holding the same job description. Figure 1 below shows the seven most important categories of responses from 80 executives regarding the key behavioral differences between these trusted advisors and everybody else.

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What Does a Trusted Advisor Look Like?

As Jim Alexander says, the term “trusted advisor” is such a catchy phrase, but how do you really  know one when you see one? He suggests that you can recognize trusted advisors by these
characteristics:
  • Clients ask for them by name
  • They are sought out for advice that goes beyond their described expertise.
  • They maintain relationships that aren’t just technical.
  • They have such strong personal brands that outsiders seek them out for speaking engagements, writing articles, or special projects.

Read the full report: What Trusted Advisors Do That Others Don’t


How Can PASR Help You As A Business Owner?

 

Peter Rigbye is the Managing Director of PASR and acts as a Virtual IT Director for many of PASR’s clients.  Peter says:

“With 38 years in the IT industry, from supply, to service management, to service consumption, and with the prior 14 years in a banking environment, I am well aware of the issues that businesses face in operating, securing and protecting their IT assets. Specifically:

I diagnose your root causes rather than just fixing the problems as reported!

I specialise in solving IT issues for SME business owners… once and for all!”

 

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If you would like to discuss this, PASR Technologies has been providing SME business owners with a level of service and support to the SME business owner that is typically only directly available in very large organisations.

Servicing businesses from 10 to up to 200 employees, our clients range from local SMEs through to regional offices of larger MNCs, and include airlines.

At PASR Technologies, we solve your IT problems before you even realize you have one!

 

60% Of Cyber Attacks Are On SMEs

Cyber crime has been in the news recently. A few months ago the UK press was awash with the lurid headlines of   UK telco TalkTalk’s admission that it was the victim of a “significant and sustained” cyber-attack that has led to 157,000 customers’ personal details being accessed.

The UK Institute of Directors (IoD) said only “serious breaches” made the headlines, but attacks on British businesses “happen constantly”. The UK government said it was “committed to tackling cyber-crime”.

 


Here in Singapore we are not immune from this

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly becoming soft targets for cyber criminals…who are increasing hacking into smaller businesses as a way of getting access to larger companies to which SMEs are suppliers.

SMEs are easy targets as often they lack the resources, expertise and technical manpower to defend themselves against cyber attacks. The situation is serious as the 2015 Internet Security Report shows that 60 per cent of all cyber attacks are on SMEs.

Ascendas’ www.spacetobe.com.sg website was hacked in 2014 – an activity that has occurred all too frequently to SG websites in past months. A concerned colleague – after being advised (three days later!) that the website’s database of personal  information might have been exposed – asked me:

 


This is scary – so how can I be safe?

And what a good question!

Basically, we cannot. In the same way that we can protect our own homes with locks – without being a locksmith – we simply cannot guarantee that our homes will not be broken into by thieves, and precious contents stolen. Yes, we can report the matter after that fact, but as for cybercrime, we may never know what has been taken, and may not get it back.

In the mentioned case the hackers defaced the site by posting a public notice stating it had been hacked, so users, and the site owners, knew that it had occurred, but consider this more scary scenario: – if the hackers above had sufficient access to deface the site:

  • How long have they had these permissions?
  • Have they previously extracted out personal/private data?
  • What if they just took data and did not advertise their presence this time?

A few pointers to feel safe and secure

How should we go about protecting personal information that we provide to various online resources? In the same manner that we choose good and strong locks for our doors and windows, we need to be sure that we each do the same with our online credentials, and we also need to ask the owners and managers of such resources about what security practices they follow. So there are two components here, but only one of them is under our own control.

Here’s a few pointers as to what we each must do.

  • Use strong passwords. Preferably use a phrase or something easily remembered. For example, change ‘My dog’s name is Spot’ into a password MdniS. Add perhaps the year we got our dog, and a special character, and you have MdniS2011# – a very strong password that we can easily remember without writing it down.
  • Use different passwords for each online resource that stores your information. If we access a lot of sites that need logins but do not store private/personal information, it’s OK to have a common username & password, but for those that do store such data, DO NOT SHARE.
  • Limit the amount of information that we provide. Just because a website asks for 25 pieces of data does not mean they are all mandatory. Limit the input to only those mandatory fields necessary to use the site.
  • If entering financial data like credit card numbers, make sure the site is using an encrypted connection: – look for the https httpsMoniker at the start of the url.

 


 

How can I be sure the site is secure?

All of the above however does not help us if the site is not secure, and this means we need to be sure that both the site owners practice good security, and the site hosters also practice good security – an entity we as site users do not have any direct contact with, which means we have to rely on the site owners. Here’s some questions you might like to ask of those that ask for your personal data.

OnlineCreditCard

  • How do you protect my data?
  • How do you protect your servers from hacking?
  • How are your servers physically protected?
  • Do you know who has administrative access to your servers?
  • What are your policies and practices regarding password management?
  • What are you policies and practices regarding terminating access for resigning employees?
  • Do you change access passwords when staff leave?
  • Do you disable user accounts when staff leave?
  • Do all administrative users for your site share the same username and password?
  • Is there an online policy available regarding security and data protection?
  • Do they regularly check security logs for improper access?
  • Do they have any intrusion detection/prevention systems in place?

Be aware of the risks and manage your own online information

Obviously, some of the providers we deal with may never answer these questions, and there is not a lot we as individuals can do to force them to do so – other than simply not giving them anything personal or private – but this approach will generally thwart our business, and so is not acceptable. In the end, we need to ensure that we personally manage our own online information as securely as we can, and be constantly vigilant over the bits we have no direct control over.

I personally use a lot of online resources, and supply credit card details at least weekly for purchases. Am I concerned? Sure, but simply being a luddite and stopping using them is not an option in today’s connected world. Have I ever been hacked? No, well not that I know of, but then I practice all the points I mention above, and ensure that the organisations I deal with online are reputable.

Finally, we must each remain continually aware of the risks associated with the online world, and be personally responsible for our own access.


If you would like to discuss these issues and what it means for your business, please get in touch. Since inception in 1996, PASR Technologies has been providing SME business owners with a level of service and support to the SME business owner that is typically only directly available in very large organisations.

Servicing businesses from 10 to up to 200 employees, our clients range from local SMEs through to regional offices of larger MNCs, and include airlines.

At PASR Technologies, we solve your IT problems before you even realize you have one!

 

The 8 Big Recurring IT Issues For SMEs

As a SME business specialist we have been providing outsourced IT support services to SMEs and growing businesses in APAC since 1996.

Over this time we regularly come across the same, repeated concerns facing SME management. Regardless of business sector, the same challenges continue to crop up.

Here, in priority order, is my list of the 8 biggest issues together with the impacts on the SME management.

How many of the following do you grapple with?

Continue reading The 8 Big Recurring IT Issues For SMEs

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