Top Reasons Every Company Needs An IT Department

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If you are setting up a business this year or you have already done and are looking for ways to expand, you need to start considering hiring an in house IT department in your building.

IT seems to get a bad rep and most of the time we see these people as nerds who are purely there to switch it on and off again whenever you call upon them. But information technology is a large part of modern businesses, and you will likely need business it support on many occasions during your career. It’s time to take a look at some of the reasons that every company should invest in an IT department.

Data Management

One of the most important things you will need to take care of when running a business is your digital assets. This can range from your product details, manufacturing blueprints, prices, employee records and even your customer database. Data is the single most valuable thing you have in your business and therefore it is important to look after it properly. Sure, you could always try to manage data yourself and save the effort of hiring someone: but you will not get the same level of quality if you do this than you would if you worked for it yourself. An IT professional will be able to control the security of your data in a much better way and keep it away from potential hackers who would try to steal it. It means that you will have the peace of mind that everything is taken care of and you don’t need to worry about your data being stolen and used by someone else.

Viruses

Honestly, by now it might seem as if avoiding attacks from a virus is just common sense. We have been programmed to ignore any message from people we don’t know, and never to open a link or attachment if the email looks dodgy. However this will never stop Helen from HR accidentally clicking on the link and releasing a deadly computer virus into your system. If you want to avoid being fooled by these sorts of things and risk losing everything to ransomware: you need someone who can block the incoming messages and set up rules for everyone to follow to prevent it occurring. As then even if a virus does pass through you will have someone with the knowledge and skills to complete the job effortlessly. The last thing you want is a virus coming in and destroying your livelihood entirely.  

Software Issues

Even if you invest in the best software money can buy, you will always encounter issues that you cannot fix yourself. To save you having to call up the company and file a ticket with them why not just give your resident IT manager a call to get them to take a look at it? Often they will be able to find the solutions to issues in a simple way that we don’t realise- and before we know it everything is back up and running and the working day can continue without too much disturbance.

Clever Solutions

If you have an issue in your department and you need a certain type of software to help you be more productive at your job, it can be difficult to find the right software which will give you everything you need. However if you have an IT technician in your work you can ask them about the issue and they will be able to go away and find a solution for you. There is software out there for pretty much anything so if you ask them to help they will be able to find it for you and get it set up. You can even get them to show you how to use existing software in a more efficient way.

Website upkeep

If you are a relatively small business you may ask your IT manager to create a website for the company. They will have the knowledge and the skills to product a user friendly site for your company and they can liaise with the marketing department whenever new content needs to be added onto the site. It means you will have a website that is constantly updated and always tested for bugs: providing the best possible end product for your customers. They will also be able to make sure that the website is as simple as possible and can even help the marketing team keep it as SEO friendly as possible.

Security

As we discuss above in the data protection area of this post, your assets and information is the most precious thing a business has to offer the world. If information gets leaked it can cause serious issues such as when it happened to Apple a few years ago. To keep your server and its contents under lock and key you will want a competent person to setup the security. You may think that hiring someone from outside the business would be fine but you will want to have someone that you trust in charge of this sensitive information. If you trust the person who is setting up the security for your network it will give you a clear mind and allow you to carry on business knowing that it is under trusted protection.

Maintenance

Technology is an amazing thing, but it is also very fickle. One minute you think you have the most incredible device in the world, and the next minute you are tempted to throw it all out of a window. There will be times when your computer mouse stops working or you have sticky keys to type on. At this point you can call your IT technician and they will come down, break down the machine if needed and fix the issue. It is as much about the hardware itself as it is about the software contained inside. You might find that they are able to fix a machine you thought was beyond saving: therefore saving you money on buying a new one.