Many firms in the English capital rely on London IT support to help them function properly. Being able to use services like this can make bosses’ lives easier and it can also enhance companies’ prospects.
Recently, the Daily Telegraph drew attention to the importance of outsourcing for small enterprises. As an example, it focussed on Alago, a Bristol-based firm that makes and sells heated gloves for sport and leisure and has distributors in five countries around the world.
Despite its professional appearance and international reach, the business had just one employee until recently: its founder Tony Curtis.
About the organisation, the publication remarked: “Virtually every aspect of the business is outsourced, including manufacturing, accounts and bookkeeping, warehousing, product design, posting and packaging, barcodes, web development and research and development. Even the business office address is virtual, with the job of answering the phone outsourced to a telephone answering company.”
According to Mr Curtis, it is more cost-effective for him to rely on external service providers like this than to perform the tasks in-house.
He stated: “We are a small company so we can’t afford to have staff dedicated to lots of different areas, and it would be difficult to find one member of staff to do everything that is needed.”
Meanwhile, Emma Jones, founder of home business network Enterprise Nation, advised small enterprises to focus on what they do best and “outsource the rest”. According to the expert, this approach helps companies to stay “nimble” and to keep their overheads to a minimum.
This might be particularly important now given the turbulent economic conditions affecting the UK and many other countries around the world.
These days, it is easy for managers to source IT support in London and elsewhere and it seems the popularity of such services will remain strong for the foreseeable future.