Small-Medium Businesses

With smaller infrastructure environments to manage, many SMBs believe that it’s only the larger enterprises that need dedicated IT services. Embracing that line of reasoning can prove risky on multiple levels. In fact, SMBs are actually more vulnerable to business disruptions and malicious attacks than their larger counterparts, and cybercriminals know how to exploit this fact.

According to one report, more than two-thirds (67 percent) of companies with fewer than 1,000 employees have experienced a cyberattack, and 58 percent have experienced a breach. Even more alarming, the same report also found that 60 percent of small businesses could go out of business due to damages associated with a cyberattack.

For SMBs, the pressure to innovate and grow while protecting vital assets is relentless. As companies struggle to keep pace with the speed of change, technology can be the great equalizer―or the barrier that holds them back.

BACS works with SMBs across industry sectors to help remove the chaos and complexity of technology planning and IT management. We help you take full advantage of the opportunities the digital age enables, whether it’s growing revenue, capturing market share, or elevating the customer experience.

While the need to transform is clear, without a calculated, strategic approach to IT planning, your efforts can quickly veer off course. At BACS, we understand the challenges SMBs face and work with you to get more from your people, processes, technology, and budget.

For SMBs, the pressure on IT to deliver value and performance has never been greater. However, meeting those demands can be a complex endeavor. With digital transformation a top priority, technology is at the center of most of the challenges SMBs face.

• Complexity of technology choices: Today’s range of technology options are broader and more complex than ever, which makes it increasingly difficult to not only make smart investment decisions, but also to consistently upgrade the processes that go along with them. Understanding what technology your business needs to reach its goals is essential. Knowing how to get it done—how and when to invest, map, plan, coordinate, and engage the enterprise around your technology initiatives—is equally important.
• End of life support: If not properly planned, end-of-life support for aging technology can put a significant strain on budgets, time, and resources. In some instances, it can even put the entire business at risk, such as the case in 2019 when support for Windows Server 2003 ended, exposing businesses to security threats and compliance issues that were no longer addressed with patches and updates.
• More tasks, smaller budgets: One of the most resource-intensive areas of any company is the IT function. The daily demands of small IT teams to optimize performance, protect vital business assets, and drive efficiency are ever-increasing―while IT budgets are continually stretched. Complicating matters for SMBs is the often high turnover rate among IT staff. With every team member exit, vital knowledge is lost―making it increasingly more difficult to optimize IT investments and stay ahead of the technology curve.
• Demands of the digital age: Most SMBs understand the digital transformation mandate but few have mastered all the elements needed for true change. The rise of mobile, cloud, and other digital technologies open a new avenue of opportunity, but it also intensifies the need for specialized knowledge, skills and expertise. To capitalize on new and emerging capabilities, SMBs must transform both strategically and operationally, while also reducing costs and investing strategically for greater profitability.
• Technology integration: Distributed IT systems and infrastructure stitched together across disparate platform present difficult integration challenges. Meanwhile, aging technology requires more support resources as it matures. Eventually outdated systems create ongoing support gaps, maintenance challenges, and scalability issues.

While the ability to rapidly scale and grow provides an important advantage, keeping your IT infrastructure up to date and operating at peak performance is no easy task. Not only are IT departments now being tapped to help drive business strategy, they are also being asked to deliver results more rapidly. This requires agile, reliable IT infrastructure that can respond quickly to meet shifting market demands.While new digital capabilities are helping SMBs improve agility and accelerate performance, they also put more pressure on IT to support more complex infrastructure and provide more specialized expertise.

To position IT as an enabler of success, you need an IT strategy that aligns with your business. That’s where BACS can help. Through experience, focus and discipline, BACS has honed its skills to help SMBs make the right technology decisions and identify the best path to success. We work with you to understand your vision and create an actionable roadmap that will allow you to manage and scale your business better and smarter.

BACS provides SMBs with strategic guidance in several core areas:

• IT Assessment and Strategy
• Technology Planning and Roadmap Alignment
• Business Application Management
• IT Security Strategy
• Budgeting and Resource Planning
• Benchmarking and Performance Assessment
• Technology Capabilities and Systems
• Cloud Strategy and Assessment
• Risk Management and Compliance
• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

The ability to move with greater speed and agility gives SMBs an important advantage over their larger counterparts. But to capitalize on the opportunities created by the digital age, you need an IT infrastructure that is up to the task.With BACS’s flexible managed services model, you can reap the benefits of world-class IT support without having to maintain a large internal IT staff. Online monitoring tools and remote support capabilities help minimize costs while providing an efficient, cost-effective way to meeting your vital IT support needs.

Working with BACS allows your business to:

• Define and clarify your vision and strategic priorities
• Shift from reactive to proactive IT management
• Prioritize decisions based on your unique business goals and objectives
• Leverage technology and internal resources for optimum efficiency and scale
• Migrate quickly to the latest business applications and IT platforms

Out-of-date technology can make it difficult for businesses of all sizes to safeguard business assets and data. The best defense against rising threats is to prevent them before they start. Upgraded and consistently managed firewalls, advanced threat detection, virus monitoring, spam filtering, virus monitoring, server and network security, and employee training are all highly effective, preemptive measures that can help prevent security breaches and network intrusions.

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At BACS, we are well-equipped with the deep knowledge and specialized expertise needed to tackle today’s difficult security challenges. We combine cutting-edge security techniques with a holistic, multi-layered approach to help strengthen your defenses, comply with regulatory mandates, and protect your vital business assets from new and emerging threats.

BACS provides a focused set of services and solutions designed to bolster your data security while optimizing operational flexibility. We work with you to evaluate your IT environment, identify potential weaknesses, and prioritize your security needs.

Staying current with fast-changing compliance mandates is another major challenge for today’s over-burdened IT teams. Because of the complexities involved and the shifting nature of the compliance landscape, many SMBs struggle just to meet minimum standards.BACS consultants understand the intricacies and nuances of regulated environments and work to ensure your technology decisions align with your business priorities and will fully meet new and emerging mandates. With daily reporting, quarterly reviews, and personalized training, your team can focus on strategy and growth, rather than worrying about keeping track of constantly changing regulatory demands.

Our consultants are well-versed in the importance of integrating IT into your overall business strategy. We help you take full advantage of the opportunities a proactive IT approach enables, whether it’s growing revenue, capturing market share, or enhancing the customer experience.

With technology and infrastructure management expertise from BACS, you’ll benefit from:

• Improved efficiency and dependability of your IT operations
• Enhanced security and compliance
• A proactive approach to maintenance
• Predictable pricing, manageable costs and optimum ROI
• Greater flexibility of IT staff to work on strategic projects
• Wider access to advanced technologies
• Specialized expertise for key functions

BACS uses its deep business application knowledge and understanding of how technology will impact business models to help guide you to the right solution. Our expert consultants understand the complexities and challenges of application integration and technology deployment and work to ensure your solutions align with your priorities and will scale appropriately.

We begin with a review of your mission, vision, and goals so that we can determine how best to leverage your technology and software investments to deliver optimum business value. We will work with you to create a strategy that aligns with your goals and can scale to meet shifting business needs.

All modern businesses should have a disaster recovery plan in place, to ensure the rapid recovery of valuable data in the event of data loss or disaster. However, finding the time to focus on proactive measures like disaster recovery and business continuity is increasingly difficult.

At BACS, our consultants are well-aware of the importance of integrating disaster recovery planning into your overall business strategy. We start with a systematic approach designed to uncover what systems and applications are most vital to your business and then implementing corrective and preventative measures that align with your objectives.

Our experts will assess the strengths and weaknesses of your existing infrastructure and outline the best options for improvement. We take into account core infrastructure needs, risk tolerances, and performance requirements as part of a comprehensive, carefully balanced plan.

To grow your organization, you need technology solutions that help you run smarter. A common problem for many SMBs is a lack of clear IT planning. That’s where a technology roadmap can deliver immense value by providing a coordinated method of managing changes to business and technology priorities as they evolve.The roadmap helps define and clarify how technology will support your business and IT strategy, detailing the strategic direction you would like your business to go. With a defined roadmap, technology investments become much more transparent, as milestones and improvements are achieved and tracked along the way.

While business strategies need to be flexible to accommodate changes in priorities and direction, technology strategy also needs to be adaptable. A business-aligned technology strategy provides a long-term vision, taking into account that changes are achieved through a series of milestones, objectives, and goals.

Core benefits of a defined IT roadmap:

• Clear understanding of your IT capabilities and how well they align with your business needs
• Increased productivity through smart technology selection and strategic deployment
• Stronger, more effective IT security
• Cost savings through better resource utilization and leverage of legacy technology
• Improved uptime, performance and reliability of IT infrastructure
• Greater organization agreement and buy-in on technology investments
• Well-organized and streamlined systems and processes.
• More strategic IT management and increased ROI

Technology has the power to transform operations for SMBs, helping to spur innovation, automate processes, and accelerate performance. With BACS, you can optimize the value and return on your IT investments while reducing the cost spent on operating and maintaining poorly planned, out-of-date technology.

With our flexible managed services options, you never have to worry sudden spikes or surprises in your IT support costs. With BACS, you get predictable, enterprise-level IT support and solutions designed to deliver the peace of mind that comes with reliable, smooth-running IT systems and processes.

At BACS, we’ve been providing a personal, dedicated IT service and support for SMBs for more than 20 years. If you are considering migrating from an existing IT provider, we can help manage the transition, making the move seamless and helping to ensure minimal business disruption.

Whether you help freeing up your on-site IT staff from mundane tasks, or need IT staff devoted to your business, we can help you get to where you need to be.

For more information on BACS IT consulting services for SMBs, please contact us!