{"id":524,"date":"2022-01-23T13:34:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T19:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/?p=524"},"modified":"2025-03-03T16:46:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T22:46:20","slug":"why-small-businesses-shouldnt-cut-their-it-budgets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/blog\/why-small-businesses-shouldnt-cut-their-it-budgets\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Small Businesses Shouldn\u2019t Cut Their IT Budgets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last two years, the pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for small businesses to grow and thrive. They\u2019ve had to acclimate to remote working and virtual meetings, as well as adhere to stricter health and safety protocols.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some even had to shut their doors, with only approximately<\/span> 70% of small businesses<\/span><\/a> in the United States staying open through the coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to keep their companies running on a budget, many <\/span>small business owners<\/span><\/a> have slashed IT service budgets. In fact,<\/span> over 41% of small businesses have cut their IT service<\/span><\/a> and cybersecurity budgets since 2020, and hackers have taken notice. In 2021 alone,<\/span> 43% of data breaches involved small businesses<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Related: Strengthen Your Online Security<\/a><\/b>]<\/b><\/p>\n

While business owners everywhere are scrambling to find ways to cut costs and keep their company afloat during this unprecedented time, we want to assure you that decreasing the IT budget isn\u2019t the way to go. IT and cybersecurity services are essential to any company\u2019s safety and success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Outdated Devices Aren\u2019t Saving You Money<\/span><\/h2>\n

You may think holding on to old devices and outdated software is saving your company money.\u00a0 After all, the saying goes \u201cif it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it\u201d\u2014especially if it\u2019s expensive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This type of thinking is actually costing you more in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old software and hardware don\u2019t have the critical security updates your business needs to protect itself against data breaches and malware attacks. They also require more maintenance, which can cost you lots of money and unnecessary downtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using outdated systems also doesn\u2019t look great in the eyes of employees or customers. In<\/span> a 2017 study,<\/span><\/a> 70% of employees reviewed their company\u2019s security solutions as inadequate and out-of-date, and over 90% of respondents in<\/span> a separate survey by Microsoft<\/span><\/a> said they would reconsider doing business with a company that uses outdated technology.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Personal Identification Information Is at Risk<\/span><\/h2>\n

Cutting your company\u2019s IT budget and shopping around for the least expensive option is not only putting your company\u2019s data at risk, it\u2019s also endangering the personal identification information (PII) of your employees and clients.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your job as a small business owner is not only to run a successful company, but to protect your customer and employee\u2019s PII. This means keeping up with the latest and highest quality cybersecurity practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Related: 4 Cybersecurity Tips for Every Business<\/a><\/b><\/b>]<\/b><\/p>\n

Your Company\u2019s Reputation Is On the Line<\/span><\/h2>\n

A company with a history of excellent customer service that provides top-quality tech support and security is one that will get recommended again and again. Cheap IT that doesn\u2019t do its job can damage this reputation and cost you existing and potential customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

80% of consumers will stop doing business with a company if their information has been compromised<\/span><\/a> in a security breach. Additionally, social media can spread news of a badly handled security breach far and wide, costing you customers and harming your company\u2019s\u00a0 reputation even further.<\/span><\/p>\n

Find Another Way to Save Money<\/span><\/h2>\n

Another option to increase your bottom line is to find areas where instead of cutting budgets, you can gain more revenue. Slashing costs should only be done if you can accomplish something just as well (or even better) with less expensive resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise, and especially when it comes to IT services and cybersecurity, you should avoid looking for cheapskate and knock-off solutions just to save a few bucks. It could irreparably damage your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

[Related: Safeguard Your Business Against Ransomware Attacks<\/a><\/b>]<\/b><\/p>\n

Connect With IT Professionals like CMIT Solutions of Bothell<\/span><\/h2>\n

Looking for IT support and <\/span>cybersecurity services<\/span> that won\u2019t break the bank? <\/span>CMIT Solutions of Bothell<\/span><\/a> can help you with quality IT solutions that are perfect for your unique small business. From <\/span>cloud hosting<\/span> and <\/span>network security<\/span> to <\/span>data protection and backup<\/span>\u2014we\u2019ve got you covered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact us today and let\u2019s get started<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Featured image via <\/span><\/i>Pexels<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While business owners everywhere are scrambling to keep their company afloat, we want to assure you that decreasing the IT budget isn\u2019t the way to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-it"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/bothell-wa-1091\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}