Going it alone
One option is to employ your own IT expert or team, but let’s put that in context. The
average salary for an IT professional in the UK is £47,500, considerably above the overall average
(£38,600 for full-time employees in 2020) and a good reflection of the value of trained experts. On top of this, there is a
well-publicised UK tech skills gap which means that even with the right budget it is a challenge to employ a suitable IT professional.
Within the SMB sector those businesses that have recruited IT professionals tend to be a Managed IT provider themselves (and therefore provide this service to other businesses too), or they are outside of the IT industry and won’t necessarily have the expertise to recruit the right talent.
In contrast, a Managed IT provider will deliver all the IT expertise you need for a monthly or annual fee (often per user) which means you can scale your budget to suit this. There are no further employment complications or costs (such as training, sick-pay, annual leave etc), the service is delivered for a predictable cost to an agreed level.