Slow and steady may win the race, but it could negatively impact your business. When it comes to IT support, a fast response time is essential. Not only can a slow response lead to decreased productivity and poor user experience, but it can cause detrimental consequences in other areas of the business as well. Let’s take a look at some of the effects of slow response times and what you can do to ensure faster responses in the future. 

Decreased productivity and employee engagement

Slow response times can have a significant impact on your team’s productivity and overall engagement. Building a business requires a coordinated series of actions, many of which are digital. If one action is interrupted or delayed, it can cause a ripple effect, reducing productivity and efficiency for the affected individual and others in the organization. Plus, it’s just plain frustrating! 

When your employees can’t do their jobs because they are waiting for support, they can begin to lose confidence in the organization. And, as many studies have proven, low employee engagement will inevitably lead to low productivity and possible turnover. A recent Gallup study found that low employee engagement can lead to a 41% increase in turnover. And, according to McKinsey, employee disengagement and attrition could cost a median-size S&P 500 company between $228 million and $355 million a year in lost productivity.

While numerous factors influence employee engagement, anything that can impact an employee’s ability to perform their job – like IT response times – will inevitably influence their engagement, productivity, and longevity with the company. 

Damage to reputation and lost business opportunities

IT response times don’t just affect your internal teams, they also can impact your business relationships and ability to take on new opportunities. For example, if your website goes down or the eCommerce functionality lags, potential customers may move on to one of your competitors. Or, if your customers find that your systems are taking too long to load and your IT team is slow to offer support, you may find yourself with unhappy clients and frustrated or discouraged internal team members. If this happens on more than one occasion, you may experience reputational damage among your existing and future customers. 

From your client’s perspective, a delay in or lost functionality on your website, client portal, or support system may indicate to them that your organization lacks attention to detail, is unorganized, or simply does not prioritize its clients. Unfortunately, this perception will become a reality, disrupting your business flow and leaving a poor impression of your business and services in the community. 

Increased risk to business systems and data 

Disrupted processes, emotional responses, damage to your reputation, and negative impacts on potential revenue streams are only part of the problem. Slow IT response times also can lead to weakened cybersecurity, which means an increased risk to your business systems and sensitive data. 

Cyber attacks are often a crime of opportunity. Cybercriminals are highly sophisticated and unwaveringly persistent. They will seek out weak points within your systems and will do everything they can to take advantage of your team to gain access to the data and systems they desire. If a threat is identified – but your team is unable to respond quickly – that threat could turn into a big (and costly) problem. 

Increase IT response times and lower risk with dedicated MSP 

Faster IT response times mean: 

• Increased productivity 
• Higher employee engagement 
• Reduced turnover
• Decreased cybersecurity risk 
• Greater reputational and business support 

The challenge some businesses face is that their internal IT team is simply spread too thin to address all incoming requests in a timely fashion, they lack the specific skills or knowledge needed to address the myriad IT concerns that arise, or they have an existing MSP that is not working well for their business. 

Every business needs IT; but not every business has the right mix of IT skills to maintain a consistent, secure, and user-friendly experience for internal and external audiences. 

At GainSide, we can serve as either an extension of your existing IT team – providing added manpower and specialized expertise to speed up response times and decrease your risk profile – or even step in as your primary MSP to cover more of your business needs. 

Say goodbye to slow response times and unnecessary frustrations – schedule a consultation with one of our representatives today!