As technology expands to impact nearly every business process, from customer service to business strategy, the role of the IT department is expanding along with it. IT support is no longer only responsible for setting up computer systems, maintaining the server, and running the help desk.
The IT team is the keeper of the treasure that data has become. With IT’s services, leadership teams can better understand their customers, predict changes in the market, understand how to streamline business processes for improved productivity, determine where inefficiencies are cutting into profits, and spot new opportunities for innovation and growth.
Thanks to developments in technology, IT support has moved from a cost center to a revenue generator. According to a 2016 survey by CIO, 84% of IT executives agree that their role is becoming more important to the company they serve. And it isn’t just large companies that benefit from the insights that IT can provide. Smaller companies who outsource their IT can take advantage of the same data intelligence that in-house executives offer enterprise-level companies.
If IT doesn’t yet have a seat at the decision-making table in your company, pull up a chair. IT support can deliver value in myriad ways, but here are five of the most significant.
1. Smarter Decision-Making
Intelligent decisions are based on facts and data. In order to guide their companies well, leadership teams must have the research that the IT department can provide. CRMs can be mined, customer surveys can be sent and results analyzed, business intelligence data can be examined for insights. The IT department, whether internal our outsourced, can deliver the information that the decision-making team needs and provide recommendations.
2. More Effective Marketing
To communicate in a compelling way, you have to know your audience inside and out. As modern culture becomes more individualized, both business buyers and consumers expect companies to provide personalized experiences that align with their interests and needs. IT can create detailed customer profiles that allow companies to micro-segment and deliver custom messages to each. Without this data and technology, companies will waste a majority of the marketing budget on ineffective initiatives.
3. Better Customer Support
Personalized experiences don’t stop with marketing. Smart companies continue to provide individualized service throughout the customer lifecycle. The IT department can help company leadership understand their customers’ changing preferences and predict behaviors so appropriate action can be taken to retain customers. IT can also improve customer communication via a multitude of channels, delighting customers and heading off potential problems before they begin.
4. Profit-Boosting Productivity
IT can create systems and provide tools that allow people and process to work as efficiently as possible. Wasted time is converted to productive time, so more gets done faster. Inefficient processes can be simplified, reducing costs. The IT department can facilitate everything from document management to inventory tracking to problem solving, all with a positive impact on the bottom line.
5. Reliable Security
With advances in technology come risks. Hackers have an unprecedented number of ways to infiltrate servers, and ransomware looms as a threat to companies of all sizes. Businesses have always depended on the IT department for security, but the value of an IT department that can provide reliable security is higher now than ever before.
As companies depend more and more on technology to compete and to grow, IT’s role will only become more important. Rather than being viewed as the stereotypical socially-challenged, video-game-loving nerds who can fix computer issues, IT professionals are now being seen as the heroes who can lead the company to levels of success that were never before possible.
If you’d like to explore ways that your company could take advantage of these benefits via an outsourced IT team, give us a call at 864-552-1291.
