An IT consulting firm works with your business to ensure your IT solutions are up to speed and are capable of ensuring your business meets its ongoing goals.
An IT consultant will consult staff from different areas of your organisation to gauge what the unique challenges and goals are from each area. They will analyse how you store data and what type of data you store, look at what cybersecurity risks you face, and make an assessment of your overall IT structures—with a mind to finding ways to improve the user-experience and reduce spending.
They will then report back to you on their findings, and recommend the best solutions. These may include introducing cloud-based solutions like Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, deployment of new software or hardware, or designing and implementing business networks.
An IT consultant can further assist with managing IT projects as a whole—seeing those projects through from initiation phase to completion.
Why innovating through technology is essential for your business
Innovating through technology is essential in this fast-paced world. Not only do customers expect seamless technology when they interact with your business online, they also expect your company will offer similar digital options to those offered by your competitors.
If you’re delivering a sub-standard experience, you may lose out.
Additionally, staff appreciate a smooth ride when they complete their work. They’ll work more efficiently if your technological solutions are up-to-date and offer the most direct routes to where they need to go in your online systems. Overly complex systems, system delays and downtimes make employees’ lives difficult, reduce productivity and ultimately impact your bottom line.
Cyber risks are also an ever-present hazard, and the ways hackers will try to infiltrate your systems are constantly morphing. Having the latest security protection is vital for the sanctity of your company’s data and systems, and can help protect your business reputation from irreparable damage.
Why working with an IT consultant is worth the spend
Whilst working with an IT Consulting firm is undoubtedly a cost for your business, it is an important step in the right direction to ensuring your enterprise’s growth. Once your digital transformation proves a success, you’ll see it was worth the financial outlay.
There are numerous reasons why working with an IT consulting firm will help your business grow in the right direction. Whilst it’s possible to update and improve your digital systems inhouse, working with an external IT consultant offers the following top 6 benefits:
1. IT consultants offer an outsider’s perspective
It’s easy for internal staff to lose sight of what’s possible in terms of a digital transformation. People become comfortable with the systems they already use, and some dread the idea of change. Who can blame them when there’s work stacking up, and changes to day-to-day operations can cause confusion and take up valuable time?
So they may stick with the status quo, or put change on the backburner. Meanwhile, competitors in your industry are moving ahead. It’s never a good idea to sit back.
An external IT consulting group will look at your business with fresh eyes. In the first instance, they’ll assess your IT systems based on industry standards and new technologies. They’ll be able to recommend the most cost-effective IT systems possible, whilst employing new digital technologies that will simplify how you do things.
Importantly, they’ll also work with you to establish clear goals in terms of how your company wants to move ahead, and match the right IT solutions to your goal, and methods for achieving that goal, before they commence further work.
2. IT consultants have the experience
IT consultants have actual experience working across a wide span of the business landscape. They’ve seen businesses like yours undergo digital transformations, introduce new software, hardware, or entire IT systems, and they know the pitfalls. They can help you avoid potential negative impacts as you transition.
With expertise working with a variety of businesses, large and small, a good IT consultant can make an assessment of your IT current state, and rigorously examine it for:
- unneeded cost outlay
- opportunities for saving
- cyber security risks
- outdated software, hardware, or ways of doing things
- opportunities to make your employees’ lives much easier through better digital solutions
- opportunities for working in the cloud, or using hybrid solutions.
3. IT Consultants are effective project managers
An effective IT consultant will be well-versed in project management frameworks, and can adapt to those your staff are familiar with.
For example, Technetics IT Consulting Melbourne ensures our expert consultants are trained in agile project management methodologies like SCRUM and kanban. Being current with project management methods like these means we easily work alongside innovating businesses, share a similar language, and are flexible in terms of coming onboard with how your business prefers to do things.
4. IT consultants know the tech intimately
Whilst your IT staff are no doubt well-trained in using your existing systems, they may not have kept up-to-date with what is going on in the industry as a whole.
IT consultants work day in, day out with a variety of IT infrastructures, software, hardware, and cloud-based solutions. Because they work with so many different companies, they understand the broader landscape well, and are better at identifying outdated IT solutions, and knowing what will work better for you.
5. IT consultants help you make the business case
It can be a big step changing the way you do things in a workplace. Not only do you need to understand the best way forward, you then need to sell the case to your department leaders, get your IT people trained up, and then get your entire staff onboard with at times significant change.
It’s not an easy task, and many businesses decide to put digital change on the back burner to avoid perceived cost outlay and disruption.
IT consultants are first and foremost communicators. They understand it’s not just about having the IT expertise, making the business assessment and writing up the recommendations—it’s also about how it’s all communicated.
An IT consultant will step in and communicate the many benefits of the IT changes you’re hoping to proceed with.
An IT consultant understands it’s not just about getting funding for a big change. It’s also about ensuring all involved departments aren’t detrimentally impacted. This requires intimate communication with your project management teams and understanding of how your business works and how departments interact.
Sometimes negotiations are challenging, and unless all leaders are in support, it can be hard to move ahead. This is at Technetics IT consulting, we help you have these conversations, tackle real issues, and sell your stakeholders the benefits of the change. Beyond that, we also help roll it out.
6. IT consultants save you money
While there’s a cost to hiring a specialist IT consultant for your enterprise, in the long run, the advice they provide and their access to the best prices from vendors should save you money.
A good IT consulting group will be able to assess your IT spending and quickly identify cost savings you may not be aware of. They are able to introduce software, hardware and cloud-based solutions that can also reduce cost outlay for you.
An IT consulting firm can also ensure competitive pricing across vendors of IT infrastructure and software. For instance, Technetics IT consulting works with all the leading IT tech vendors, and are able to negotiate competitive pricing—always siding with clients over vendors. Our procurement services allow your business access to the most readily available stock with the fastest delivery times available.
Technetics IT Consulting Melbourne
Technetics offer world-class IT services in Melbourne and beyond. No matter the type or size of your business, our consultants can provide expert advice and cutting-edge IT solutions to match your business challenges and goals.
If you want to transform your day-to-day operations, protect your IT security and future-proof your IT systems, Technetics are here to ensure the smoothest transition possible. Contact us today.