Small Businesses Are Forgotten By IT Support

My name is Tom Mitt, founder of TBG Technologies, an IT support company. I’ve led TBG since 2004 following a career running managed services companies, several of which I’ve owned.

I’ve been having conversations lately with small business owners who have found that computer support is out of their price range. Yet support is something they must have in order to protect their businesses. There are thousands of small companies working just as hard as the big ones, to be successful.

Let me start with a definition: a small business is not the government’s definition of any firm with fewer than 500 employees. For me, a small business is less than 15 employees. I’d even say less than five. These are my people.

So, what do these people do? If you’re like most small businesses, you grit your teeth and carry on. That’s because it is difficult to get solid, reliable computer support when you don’t have deep pockets. Or maybe you have someone you rely on and who does a good job when you call them to fix something. Like having a trusted plumber. They are the go-to person when your sink or toilet leaks.

Time for another definition of computer support. Computer support is not just fixing things that break. This is called break-fix support and is the only option for most small businesses. This is not support. This is repair. Support includes fixing things, to be sure. But it really means keeping an eye on your systems and preventing problems as much as possible. It also means working with you to improve your technology where possible, keeping budgets in mind. And it means keeping up with changes in the tech world that could affect you.

Computer Support is just that – support. This is what small businesses need. And this is what they have the hardest time getting.

True computer support is available – at a price. Most true support firms will charge anywhere from $50 to $100 per computer per month for this level of support. If you have only five computers in your office, that is an additional $250 to $500 per month. $6,000 per year.

So, you the small business owner, are stuck with break-fix repair. You get to watch while the rest of the business world gets to move ahead. They use VOIP phone systems, advanced cloud services, GPS tracking, and the latest wireless while your systems may be stuck at Windows 7 or (yikes!) Windows XP.

This is the state of computer support for small businesses today. No support, just repair. Sure, they’ll come out to fix things when they break, and they are terrific in an emergency. But that’s it.

TBG presents a different support model for the small business owner. Take the best of big company support services and bring it to the small business. Even the “mom and pop” companies. And TBG’s costs for these services are small, the cost to our clients is tiny. Less than the cable TV bill. And a reduced rate for hourly service, so you only pay for what you need. Never more. Being passed over for good service and even ignored is no way to keep up with the thousands of changes occurring every year.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting educational information so you’re able to become the best business owner you can be. I’ll touch on computer age, backups, anti-virus, internet safety, cyber-attacks, ransomware, the cloud, email safety, VOIP phone systems, and others.

Tom Mitt is the founder of TBG Technologies, located at 11300 W. Greenfield Avenue, West Allis, Wis. 53214. Tom can be reached at 414-775-7745 or email at toomas@tbgtechnologies.com. www.tbgtechnologies.com We Make Technology Behave!