What is an IT solutions company?

When you think of information technology (IT), you probably think of the guy in the dark room with all the screens and wires who you call when something isn’t working. “Have you tried turning it off an on again?” But what if your organization doesn’t have that guy? Or what if there’s a problem that guy doesn’t have the resources to solve? That’s where an IT solutions company comes in.

But what exactly is an IT solutions company? Essentially, it’s a whole organization full of “that guys”, with different levels of experience, different areas of expertise, and the ability to maintain and protect your entire IT infrastructure – either with the support of your in-house IT, or in lieu of it.

Types of IT Solution Services

For many of us, we just associate “IT” with all things technical. Internet went down? Call IT. Computer crashed? Call IT. Got a suspicious email? Call IT.

IT truly does encompass a wide array of business technology solutions that cover everything from the network to the infrastructure and beyond. Let’s dig into a few of the top areas an IT solutions company can help with:

• Cybersecurity and Regulatory Compliance
  • Plan for business continuity
  • Conduct security risk assessments
  • Train employees
  • Analyze IT compliance
  • Plan for compliance gaps remediation
  • Manage anti-virus and web and spam filtering
• Support
  • Keep your systems up and running
  • Interface directly with technology vendors on your organization’s behalf
  • Provide visibility into overall performance
• Strategy and Roadmaps
  • Define your desired IT-related results and expected outcomes
  • Develop a strategy for achieving those results/outcomes
  • Create a prioritized roadmap you review regularly to stay on track
• Consultancy
  • Provide expert guidance on IT-related needs
  • Serve as liaison between the team of network engineers working within the IT environment and the executive leadership of the organization they’re working with
• Network Services
  • Design, plan, and secure the network
  • Manage and back up the network and workstations
• Infrastructure Management
  • Configure and manage servers and hardware
  • Visualize servers
• Preventative Services
  • Plan for how to recover from disasters
  • Store cloud backups
  • Ensure high availability
• Cloud Migration and Architecting
  • Cloud strategy consulting (beyond server migration)
  • Enable organizational scalability
• Business Communication
  • Managed business internet and telecommunication solutions
  • Consolidated carrier relationships
  • Consolidated vendor and location billing

These are just some of the technological solutions that can be provided to your organization through a relationship with an IT solutions company. And if you already have an in-house IT team, outsourcing doesn’t mean replacing. These services can serve as an extension of existing resources, allowing your team to focus on their most pressing issues.

Read more from our "What Is" series:

• What is IT strategy?

Benefits of Using an IT Solutions Company

It’s great to know the different types of IT services you can receive by working with an IT solutions company, but it might still be difficult to see the true value in those services. Here are some of the top benefits organizations can receive by outsourcing some or all of their business technology solution needs:

• Cost Containment
  To hire the dedicated resources in-house that can be provided through an IT solutions company, not to mention to purchase the tools and licenses and to keep up with education and training, is significantly more expensive than forming a partnership with a third party.
• Insight and Innovation
  Fresh eyes and outside perspectives can often lead to new ideas and fresh takes on issues that those who are in the heart of the storm might not have thought of.
• Strategy
  Often, the guy in the dark room with all the screens and wires doesn’t have time to stop responding to requests long enough to look at an organization’s IT infrastructure holistically and come up with a long-term strategy to get the most protection, best service, and maximized scalability. But an outsourced team that provides a virtual CIO dedicated to your organization can do just that.
• Support
  24/7 support with access to your network, familiarity with your organization, and direct contact with your vendors means extensive coverage for any issue, any time.
• Security
  With data breaches and ransomware dominating the headlines with no end in sight, no organization can afford to leave access points for cybercriminals unprotected, and an IT solutions company can help cover those bases.
• Uptime
  For a lot of business leaders, IT is just about making sure things work, which is a valid need. With eyes on every nook and cranny of your IT infrastructure, you can be sure uptime will be maximized.
• Lack of Issues and Peace of Mind
  Probably the biggest benefit that business leaders actually feel from outsourced IT is peace of mind knowing they’re doing everything they can to secure and manage their environment, which is only enhanced as the lack of issues their organization experiences proves the value of the third party partnership.

In a nutshell, an IT services company is a full-fledged IT department with leadership, vendor relationships, and enterprise-level tools – without the overhead.