Technology is evolving rapidly, and businesses must keep up to date. They must look for ways to leverage new technologies like big data, AI, and the like to propel growth and remain competitive.
However, integrating the technologies into business operations can be challenging. Some businesses find it challenging to select suitable solutions, while others don’t have the expertise to integrate them.
That’s why technical consulting has become pivotal to business growth. It provides businesses with the expertise required to make informed decisions regarding technological investments.
More importantly, the experts help businesses implement new solutions, driving growth. Here are ten more reasons a business needs technical consulting services.
1. Focus on the Core Business
Information technology is just one aspect of a business that facilitates production or service delivery.
Thus, outsourcing it to experts helps a company focus on the core business. It could be redesigning business processes, tracking performance, or improving employee productivity.
An IT technical consulting team will provide the right technological solutions to help you focus on these high-return areas.
Remember, many companies have only one or two executives, which increases the need to operate leanly and efficiently.
Technical consulting teams help you automate manual tasks, allowing executives to focus on services that increase the bottom line.
2. Develop Effective IT Strategies
Developing effective IT strategies is critical for business growth. They’re the roadmaps that outline a company’s objectives, technologies, and initiatives to achieve its goals.
They also ensure that you invest in IT infrastructure that aligns with business priorities. This is particularly important for company executives who align IT strategies with executive directions.
When technical consulting experts develop such IT strategies, creating a mutual partnership with management becomes easy. Executive and IT teams also unite, and stakeholders, such as employees, are more likely to accept new systems.
Moreover, subsequent IT projects become more strategic, often geared towards achieving business goals, e.g., increasing market share, minimizing costs, etc.
3. Keep Up With the Latest Tech Trends
Technical consulting is an invaluable tool for any business looking to navigate the complexities of technological advances.
Innovations like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing have changed the business landscape, and companies must keep up.
Technical consultants help businesses harness these technologies effectively to stay ahead of competitors.
With their expertise, a business can proactively integrate technological advancements into its business strategies.
More importantly, the experts can develop custom solutions for integrating new technologies into your business model. The consultants study your business model to create solutions that align with business objectives.
4. Help a Business Scale Operations
Businesses strive for scalability as they grow. Scaling helps them increase their market share and gives them an edge over their competitors.
However, scaling a business depends on the company’s technical capacity. Can the in-house tech team implement new solutions to meet the growing business demands?
Keep in mind that the volume and complexity of a company’s IT requirements increase as it scales. As such, an in-house IT department can get overwhelmed and underdeliver in new markets.
Enlisting the help of technical consulting takes a massive load off the team. The consultants have the expertise required to help a business scale its operations.
Be it specific knowledge in data analytics, software development, or cybersecurity, they got you. Also, the experts are well-acquainted with new technologies and can implement them quickly, helping businesses leverage emerging opportunities.
Lastly, technical consulting allows a business owner to scale up or down depending on a project’s needs. This versatility is beneficial for companies scaling in volatile markets. They can make quick alterations based on the scale of activities to avoid losses.
5. Protect Business Systems from Cybersecurity Attacks
Cyber attacks are commonplace in modern-day digital spaces. The problem is rife in small businesses, as 46% of cyber breaches affect them. Cyber attacks can cause unprecedented monetary losses, which can be challenging to recover.
Attacks using ransomware, for example, are designed to encrypt valuable data and disrupt systems, leading to massive financial losses.
Unfortunately, only some business owners are prepared to deal with such attacks. A study by Accenture on the cost of Cybercrime found that only 14% of businesses are ready to deal with cyberattacks.
Technical consulting equips your business with the tools and systems to deal with online attacks. The experts provide tailored solutions to protect your digital assets from cyber threats by:
- Performing a cyber security risk assessment to identify possible vulnerabilities
- Adopt best practices for mitigating cybersecurity threats
- Performing cybersecurity audits
- Monitoring business systems in real time to detect and respond to potential breaches
- Setting up a plan of action to minimize damage in the event of a cyber attack
6. Improve Productivity and Minimize Costs
Most business systems use poorly optimized blends of old and new technology, which are expensive and ineffective.
Let’s face it! Old technology takes longer to execute tasks, not to mention the number of updates and maintenance it needs.
Enlisting IT technical consulting services goes a long way in improving a company’s technology and productivity. The experts help consolidate old and new systems, preventing uncontrolled IT costs. They do it by:
A. Automating Tasks and Services
Many businesses hire professionals to execute tasks like system upgrades, monitoring, data backup, etc.
A technical consulting expert is keen to identify inefficiencies and may recommend these two solutions to correct them:
- Use software to automate such tasks
- Hire a fully-fledged IT managed service
With these tasks out of your way, you don’t have to employ full-time employees to perform repetitive tasks.
The team can focus on more important tasks, e.g., innovating cutting-edge systems to improve the company’s bottom line.
B. Investing in Virtual Systems
Data storage is invaluable to every business, yet it takes up much of a company’s budget, from the infrastructure to the installation and maintenance costs.
Luckily, virtual systems like cloud computing make data storage more affordable. You don’t have to purchase the infrastructure upfront; they have larger capacities than physical servers.
A 2017 survey found that firms that switched to cloud computing systems saved money and enjoyed better security and productivity.
IT technical consulting helps set it up and ensure your data is secure. They’ll also help you select the most efficient cloud technologies and integrate them with existing IT systems.
C. Standardize Business Systems
Many businesses get stuck on IT systems that could be better optimized for emerging needs. Such practices can be frustrating to the customer and the company alike.
Technical consulting experts help upgrade such systems and standardize IT infrastructure to improve productivity.
Standardization also creates cohesiveness and uniformity within the company and streamlines processes. This way, a company saves time and costs that would be used to maintain an old system.
Also Read: A Complete Guide to Selecting the Right Tech Consulting Partner
7. Fresh Perspective
Keeping up with technological trends can be tasking for any business. It’s especially difficult for Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) who still need to handle day-to-day operations and oversee expansions.
They can easily fall prey to false advertising when making technological decisions. IT technical consulting experts are well-acquainted with emerging trends and can save you from such predicaments.
They will advise you about the best technologies for your business operations and the best time to invest in them.
In addition, they assess the technology's impact on your business and implement systems to mitigate losses, if any.
8. Minimize Technical Setbacks
Technical hurdles are inevitable in any business, but knowing how to recover quickly is essential. A survey of 200 small and medium-sized companies found that IT downturns lead to significant losses in revenue.
Small businesses lose up to $55,000 in revenue in a year, while mid-sized companies lose more than $91,000. Such figures significantly impact a company’s bottom line in the long run.
Technical consulting experts are experienced in handling such setbacks, helping you bounce back quickly. They’ll also set up systems to mitigate such setbacks in the future.
9. Bridge the IT Skills Gap
Setting up an in-house IT team is a luxury for many small to medium enterprises. They must allocate large chunks of money to salaries and bonuses, not to mention the time spent looking for skilled IT professionals.
Enlisting the help of technical consultants saves you the hassle. You enjoy the services of a team of technical experts with a wealth of industry experience.
In fact, outsourcing technical expertise is the new normal, with experts predicting the market will grow to $587.3 trillion by 2027.
The consultants are adept at leveraging innovative technologies, helping the business stay ahead of the curve.
Whether you want to adopt cutting-edge AI technologies or optimize operations with the latest cloud technologies, technical consultants have your back.
Also, you’re not stuck with a one-size-fits-all approach. The experts understand that businesses have unique needs and challenges, hence tailoring tech solutions to meet them.
This way, every technological aspect of your business, from network systems to hardware, is aligned with your goals.
10. Measurable Results
With a technical consulting team on board, businesses are only required to pay when they achieve the desired outcomes. This is one great advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises operating on a budget.
The team will be vested in the company’s success by improving its profitability and efficiency.
Such a business model helps a company achieve measurable results and estimate progress.
For example, a company hiring a consultant to improve operational efficiency can use various KPIs to evaluate performance.
- Time required to perform tasks: The experts identify the processes that can be optimized to deliver projects on time
- Resource utilization rates: This key performance indicator shows the company uses available resources efficiently
Such tangible results indicate that hiring a team of technical consulting experts is effective.
Thankfully, most businesses show significant improvement when they enlist the help of a tech consulting company.
Partner with Imaginovation for Tech Consulting Success
Every business needs a technical consulting expert on the dial. We’re such partners. We will help your company focus on the core business and develop effective IT strategies.
We’ll also help you leverage emerging technologies, improve the company’s productivity, and minimize costs.
And if you want to scale your business, we can help you set up new systems. The beauty is that we will tailor the systems to the company’s objectives and unique challenges in the new market.
Plus, we can guide you on how to deal with cyber threats and minimize technical setbacks.
Talk to us today!
Ready to build an app, but not sure where to start?
We've got you covered. Click the button below to get started.