Managed IT strategy crucial to business growth and innovation, says Veracloud co-founder

Cost efficiency, spend oversight, human resource management, and compliance assistance are just some of the benefits of collaborating with a technology service provider, John Ellul, the co-founder and Sales Director of Veracloud has explained.

Such a collaboration alleviates unnecessary pressure on companies, who are then able to keep focus on overall business strategy and innovation, he says. “Particularly in the midst of our AI boom, constant regulation, and with instability of European markets, businesses need to move quickly, and scale – sometimes instantly.” To do so, businesses, he insists, need to have the right specialist “partners in place so that you can just move forward”.

Crucially, business risks can be mitigated with the assistance of a tech service provider, with companies being given the expertise to address the security gaps that might be inherent in current systems. “Typically, SMEs don’t have the resources or capacity to employ masters of their trade, so they would have employed IT generalists. However, outsourcing tech services means having access to people who are specialists in different aspects of tech. These will include having experts looking at any threats and then finding solutions to block any them.”

Moreover there are no hidden operational costs and one crucial advantage is being able to plan for expenses. “Businesses are often, rightly, focused on the bottom line, and on keeping costs in check. I speak to many CFOs and owners of SMEs, and the feedback we’ve received is that having a managed technology service provider – working on a retainer – translates into being able to plan for predictable tech costs.”

To this end, the co-founder explains that Veracloud typically works on an all-inclusive, flat monthly-fee basis, handling the necessities of, for instance, IT change management and breakdown support. “In this way, our clients know they’re going to be paying a fixed amount and there are no unexpected costs. They know how much they are going to spend. We avoid any hourly charges, and, instead, come up with a monthly amount and Veracloud’s responsibility is to constantly keep the lights on.”

In this sense, the advantages of working with a tech service provider is not solely the ability to plan and manage budgets, but also it enables a degree of cost efficiency. “You are paying for something you need, rather than spending money on, for example, recruitment which might not tick all the boxes,” the co-founder underscores.

Elaborating on the human resource advantages to working with a technology partner, Ing Ellul says that “to find the right people in this market is very challenging due to the amount of demand and work that is out there. Moreover, you need to onboard, train and there is the constant need to update skills and knowledge. If someone leaves, you have to restart the process, and this all costs time and money. However, these are headaches which our clients outsource to us.”

Indeed, companies may have a limited human resources budget, but a larger IT one, he continues. “Some businesses do not have the resources to employ the full complement of staff they might need. Yet, they might have more flexibility when it comes to their IT budgets, so outsourcing tech infrastructure and services could help their overall P&L and mitigate any financial impact of increasing tech demands,” he explains.

Nonetheless, Ing Ellul recommends employing a liaison within the company who can work with Veracloud – or the business’ choice of tech service provider. This would be a staff member who is able to communicate the needs of that client.

“We always tell our partners to employ someone in-house or select an internal employee – someone who is a culture fit, and whom we can work with. If they leave or go on holiday, we can then step in and support any transitions which need to occur. The crucial thing here is that a tech partner will help avoid creating a single point of failure, and we would, indeed, also complement the work which is also being done in-house,” Ing Ellul highlights.

In this way, a tech service provider gives the flexibility a business owner needs to focus on growth. “There’s the issue of scalability. When you’re dependent on a few people internally to grow, you may lack the capacity to react and scale quickly. However, if you want to grow, you’ll need the right expertise and partners to do so.”

Speaking more broadly, and with reference to the regulatory environment becoming more stringent, as well as heightened attention paid to the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies can ill-afford to stay complaint without such specialised partners to which to delegate certain aspects of the business, the co-founder insists.

“Being a business owner myself, I know that it’s not realistic to keep up-to-date with all the regulations without the proper resources to hand. There are just too many different aspects of the business which need attention,” Ing Ellul underlines. What a tech service provider can offer is “laser-eye focus” on the IT issues and structures, so that bandwidth is reserved for aspects that might need other specialist assistance.

In addition, should changes be required to a business’ IT infrastructure – as a result of legislation or in a push towards growth – Veracloud possesses a network of expert partners who can also help their clients. “We have a tight-knit ecosystem so that if one of our clients needs specialised help, we can help connect them to the right people. This is why we’re a partner, and not an IT supplier. So, across the board, we can help with mentoring, incident response and business continuity, but, essentially, we provide the expertise from those who have walked miles within that specific specialisation.”

When issues do occur, Ing Ellul explains, “we understand the pressure points, and nodes of recovery. This means we are aware of any down time that might be needed should something go wrong. Third party risk is a tangible concern, so having the right infrastructure and services in place is central to a company’s reputation and assures trust,” he notes.

Fundamentally, such a partnership seeks to give clients peace of mind. “This is the sense of security that is created when I know someone I trust is working on the company’s systems, consistently updating and automating it. And, this would be a partner who is strengthening those security policies and ensuring that data is being handled in a complaint and responsible way,” he concludes.