It doesn't matter what industry you're talking about or what size your organization is - having an internal IT team at-the-ready is important for a number of key reasons.
For starters, it allows for a deep understanding of your business's unique needs.
Not all healthcare organizations are created equally, for example.
The needs of one practice may vary wildly from another. In-house employees can play to those strengths and lean into what makes you unique.
Having an in-house team enables faster responses to employee tech-related issues, helps to make sure that technology is able to offer the best possible customer experience, and more.
Of course, having an internal IT team and having a small internal IT team are two different things.
All businesses would love an environment where there is a small army of technology experts waiting to fix problems and innovate at all times.
Sadly, we don't live in a perfect world.
According to one study, a digital skills gap will leave approximately 4.3 million tech jobs unfilled around the world by 2030.
If you're not already dealing with an IT skills gap, you might be in the not-too-distant future.
That's why knowing how to support small IT teams today is the key to success moving forward.
There are a number of strategies you should keep in mind for success in banking and healthcare in particular that are worth a closer look.
Especially in fast-paced industries like healthcare or financial services where the stakes tend to be high, one of the major challenges faced by small internal IT teams is the same as those challenges faced by small teams in general.
They lack the time and resources needed to keep up with how quickly things are moving.
Think about how long it takes to handle something like daily routine maintenance.
You need to spend time troubleshooting issues.
You'll need to devote time and attention to updates and bug fixes.
People are spending so much time "spinning their wheels," so to speak, that there aren't enough hours in a day left to devote to moving things forward.
Not only that, but when a small internal team is forced to handle the workload of what should be a much larger team, you run into an issue with regard to skill.
Smaller teams are frequently required to be experts in multiple areas of technology - including but not limited to ones like network management, cybersecurity, data storage, and more.
This is true despite limited specialization on the team itself.
This lack of depth can make it difficult to stay ahead of evolving tech challenges and can result in slower responses to critical issues.
That bleeds into another one of the major challenges faced by small IT teams - they often have to balance those aforementioned routine tasks with other strategic initiatives.
If your days are spent patching software and making sure that everything is backed up correctly, you don't necessarily have the time to plan a major initiative - much less execute it.
Strategic initiatives like upgrading infrastructure, implementing new technologies, or exploring digital transformation require time, focus, and expertise, which are often diverted due to the pressing needs of everyday operations.
This makes it difficult for small IT teams to focus on innovation or planning for the future.
All this runs the risk of creating severe burnout and high turnover rates among the few employees you do have, which is a situation that you absolutely do not want to find yourself in.
According to one recent study, the average cost to replace an employee works out to between six and nine months of their current salary.
That's just to fill the position, mind you. You'll still need to get that person up to speed.
You'll still be working at a productivity deficit while that position sits open.
When people are being spread too thin on small banking IT or healthcare IT teams in fields like banking and healthcare, employees may feel overwhelmed by the never-ending cycle of tasks and the pressure of being the go-to resource for all IT-related issues.
Over time, this can lead to high stress levels, job dissatisfaction, and, ultimately, high turnover rates.
Finding and retaining qualified IT professionals is challenging for small teams, especially when competing with larger organizations that can offer better compensation and resources.
Another study predicted that by as soon as 2026, more than 90% of organizations all over the world will experience an IT skills crisis.
There won't be enough employees to fill available positions and the ones those organizations are able to find won't necessarily be a good fit anyway.
Getting ahead of this today is your key to not battling against every other banking and healthcare organization for limited IT resources tomorrow.
Even if you can't necessarily hire as many IT employees as you'd like, there are still a number of collaborative strategies that you can explore for IT success moving forward.
One of the biggest of these involves outsourcing routine tasks to free up as many internal resources as possible.
Note that in this example, routine tasks would be things like software updates, network monitoring, and even Help Desk support.
Anything that is fairly straightforward and that depends on repeatable processes would be a prime candidate for this.
It's a move that will help free up the time of your in-house employees so they can focus on more strategic initiatives.
This not only improves operational efficiency but also prevents team members from being bogged down by tasks that are essential but not necessarily strategic.
Outsourcing provides the flexibility to scale operations without overburdening the team.
Another step you can take involves leveraging external expertise for some of the more complicated IT challenges you're likely to face.
This can include but is not limited to protection against (or recovery from) cybersecurity threats, cloud migration, and even major infrastructure upgrades.
All of these require specialized expertise that your smaller internal team might not have - but that's okay, because someone like a Managed Service Provider (MSP) will.
By leveraging the skills and knowledge of external IT experts, small teams can effectively address these challenges without needing to hire new full-time specialists.
External providers can bring in-depth experience and access to the latest technologies, ensuring that businesses stay competitive and secure.
Small banking IT or healthcare IT teams can certainly benefit from integrating external MSPs or IT consultants into their daily workflow.
This collaboration helps ensure that day-to-day IT operations run smoothly while freeing up the internal team to focus on more pressing or long-term priorities.
Likewise, establishing clear roles and responsibilities between internal IT staff and external partners can prevent confusion and ensure that issues are addressed in a timely manner, without overloading any one party.
All this creates a type of sustainable IT support structure that is particularly valuable in a field like healthcare and financial services.
Over time, you'll begin to learn a number of valuable lessons from effective collaboration that show what successful support for small IT teams truly looks like.
It's not simply the fact that you're offloading a certain volume of tasks to a third party for help.
It's that you're finding a way to strategically apply their productivity and expertise to fill in gaps that exist, making you a stronger organization after the collaboration than you were before it.
Naturally, clear communication will be invaluable during this time.
Regular communication between internal IT teams and external providers is crucial to ensure all parties are aligned on expectations, goals, and priorities.
Especially when you're working with someone like an MSP, you will also quickly begin to learn the value of flexibility and scalability in collaboration.
MSPs can offer flexible solutions that grow with the business.
Small teams can scale support up or down based on changing needs, without needing to invest in full-time staff.
All this will also highlight why it's so essential to have a crystal clear strategic focus in the first place.
External support allows internal IT teams to focus on projects that align with the organization’s long-term goals, rather than getting bogged down by day-to-day maintenance.
Overall, the key takeaway from much of this is that if you want to strengthen and support small IT teams in fields like banking and healthcare in particular, you need to find a partner like an MSP that can complement what you already have - not replace it.
This is part of the reason why MSPs have become so popular in the last decade in particular.
By providing expert-level support on demand, MSPs can alleviate the pressure on internal teams and ensure that businesses benefit from industry-leading practices.
With access to advanced tools and technology, MSPs can monitor IT systems around the clock, detect and resolve issues proactively, and provide specialized expertise in areas like cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data recovery.
Small IT teams can rely on MSPs to enhance their capabilities while focusing on critical internal projects.
Small IT teams tend to face a number of major challenges that their larger counterparts don't.
That's not to say that those larger IT teams don't have problems of their own - it's just that they tend to fall into an entirely different category as the root cause is rarely "lack of resources."
Balancing routine tasks with strategic goals becomes difficult when those routine tasks MUST be done at all costs.
IT disruption waits for nobody and depending on how frequently your systems experience issues, you could be dealing with burnout before you know it.
That equates to lost productivity, client/patient dissatisfaction, and high costs to fill available positions - all at once.
By outsourcing to someone like a Managed Services Provider, however, you can support those small IT teams in a way that allows them to thrive.
You're not replacing your own internal team with "something more efficient."
It's not about replacing anything at all.
It's about finding a way to finally give those small IT teams access to the resources they need - albeit in a slightly different way than many likely assumed.
Not only does outsourcing routine maintenance and support tasks free up valuable time, but it also better positions your business to handle more complex IT needs as well.
It also helps to create a more sustainable structure that effortlessly balances internal and external resources, which in and of itself is one of the more important goals of all.
You're also able to provide those resources to people without eating too far into your budget.
By design, MSPs offer a flexible, cost-effective solution for small businesses looking to expand their IT capabilities without the need for significant in-house staffing.
Exploring the benefits of MSP partnerships can enable small IT teams to manage their workloads more effectively and gain access to cutting-edge technology and industry expertise.
At the very least, if you haven't already considered enlisting the help of an organization like an MSP, now would be an excellent time to start.
If you have any additional questions about supporting small IT teams and the strategies you can use to help pave the way for success in industries like banking and healthcare, or if you'd just like the opportunity to discuss your own needs with a team of professionals in a bit more detail, please don't hesitate to contact us today.
