First, I just gotta say this to all the small businesses out there: You are important. A recent study by G2 Crowd shows that small business are extremely vital: “Small businesses are the core of the US and global economy. In 2013 there were 28.8 million small businesses, versus 18,600 large enterprises in the United States” (read the full report) here. As you can see, the difference in numbers is staggering. Small businesses have a serious impact on the economy and drive it forward.
Small businesses, however, often face serious challenges that large ones don’t. In particular, there is the large burden of financial expenditure and maintenance. Managing Information Technology (IT) is one such difficulty. Consider, for example, that you own a bakery and instead of buying flour, you have to invest in a farm, plant the wheat, gather, grind and pack the flour before you can even use it. Imagine the astronomical cost and all the time lost.
Well, maintaining an in-house IT department is not so different. You, as the owner of a small business, could invest in creating an IT department to meet all your needs— hiring specialized IT employees, investing in hardware and software and managing the department. But, can you imagine how many resources this would drain? Why not get whatever kind of flour you want from whichever vendor you prefer instead of trying to produce it yourself? That is a much more cost effective solution. Small businesses already employ the strategy of investing in IT services, rather than building a department from the ground up, and so should you.
