Partner Article

Is information technology working for or against your business?

By taking advice from IT Companies that may not be in tune with their business, many company bosses are failing to take advantage of the amazing capabilities of technology today. Joe Olabode, founder of IT firm PCI Services, explains why it may be time to take stock of your IT strategy.

WHILE few business leaders would tolerate paying for poor marketing, accountancy or administration services, when it comes to IT, many bosses are settling for at best satisfactory, at worst poor service –through a lack of knowledge and transparency.

Business pressures today mean that most businesses, without dedicated IT departments, simply don’t have the time to question the service they are being provided. But companies s shouldn’t take the ‘better the devil you know’ approach to who provides their IT solutions and support, they should expect to feel valued.

The regional market is dominated by a handful of large IT business service providers, who are not necessarily geared up, nor have the desire to serve the needs of many SME sized businesses.

Having worked in the IT industry for over 25 years, I have witnessed at close hand the rapid transformation of technology and the capabilities it has for businesses.

Mobile technology has brought remote working to the fore, cloud computing has made fast-growing companies infinitely more flexible and the Internet continues to speed up business processes at a rate of knots.

But one thing that has barely changed since I first entered this sector – when the web was just a concept in its infancy – is the lack of transparency between many IT companies and their customers.

Perhaps at the dawn of the IT age it was understandable that the non-technically minded would unquestionably accept what they were told by the first generation of technology companies. Since IT was a minor component, rather than an essential aspect of the business, it was acceptable to leave the outsourced tech team to its own devices.

But today, when virtually every business would struggle to survive without technology, business leaders should not be afraid to hold their IT suppliers to account if there is something they either don’t understand, or are not 100% happy with.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for many North East firms. Despite the fact that IT is one of the largest expenditures on the balance books for most SMEs, many non-technical professionals lack the confidence to challenge advice from IT companies. In recent months I have met a series of businesses across the region that tell me they believe IT companies are only interested in upselling. According to bosses from a wide range of sectors, shortly after describing a business problem to their IT consultant, they are presented with a plethora of options – all of which typically involve redesigning their entire IT infrastructure and investing in additional software.

But in many cases, if the companies had shown more transparency, their clients would have discovered that their existing systems could merely have been reconfigured to find a solution.

Not only would this have saved their budget from a major and unnecessary IT-sized dent, it would also have prevented hours of staff time being wasted through training on new systems and the other admin tasks that come with an IT overhaul.

All too often, IT companies use tech-speak to disguise their lack of understanding of what a business really needs to achieve its aims. I believe passionately that all credible IT solutions companies need to engage with the client and earn their trust and confidence which creates a lasting mutually beneficial relationship. This can only be achieved by understanding each and every one of their clients business, regardless of size, and provide best advice and practise that stands up to scrutiny.

Passing the buck between IT suppliers proves another major headache -all too often the ‘hardware IT guy’ will blame a system’s inefficiency on the ‘software guy’ and vice versa – leaving the poor client acting as piggy in the middle between two IT companies who choose not to communicate.

A reputable fully integrated business IT service provider will be able to tune into the needs of your business and help you grow through a bespoke technology infrastructure.

PCI Services, recently joined forces with software specialist HBP Monpellier for this very reason. We can now offer a truly integrated IT solution which strategically approaches clients to ensure their IT investment is aligned to their needs now and in the future.

We also support packages that are most commonly used by SMEs such as Sage, Pegasus and Microsoft as well as more specialist products.

If you have any doubts about the IT investment you are being advised to make, or are unclear of exactly what results it will bring, maybe it’s time you considered your options as you do have choices.

You wouldn’t stand for shoddy accountancy or financial services, so why do it with your IT service providers?

For more information on PCI Services please visit: www.pciservices.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jonny Marshall .