I was talking to a business owner the other day who asked me “If I’m in the cloud, what do I need IT services for?” Inwardly, I groaned, because this is a question I’m hearing more often these days – and it represents a misunderstanding about the ‘magic’ of cloud services. The cloud is powerful, and has the ability to save companies thousands of dollars on things like the upkeep of a data center, but ultimately it’s just another deployment model. A deployment model with its own set of challenges, risks and questions that need answering.

IT managed services are not new, but most small business owners still do not really know what they are.  Following are five case studies that describe how technology impacts business results and the role of IT managed services in improving those results.

When developing IT strategy for a company (if such an activity even occurs), small businesses often do not understand the true impact of technology on their bottom lines.  If this is the case, IT may remain a cost and a potential drag on the business.  Following are some ways to transform IT into a profit center.

Turbotek recently published the 2011 Information Technology Optimization guide.  In it, we laid out some of the key business drivers for small businesses for this year and the IT initiatives that are going to help organizations meet their goals.

When I was in the information security business, my customers would say that projects were funded first for compliance, second for the needs of the business and third for what was the right thing to do from an IT perspective.  This led to a lot of over compliance, but it is an interesting lens when thinking about best practices in technology for small business, especially during these times.

While small business owners are often overwhelmed with a wide range of non IT issues from personnel to cash flow to supplier management, here are 7 ways owners are utilizing technology in business:

Small business IT implemention can be very challenging due on one hand to the limitation of resources available and on the other the high reliance on the infrastructure for the business (order processing, inventory, etc.)  While IT may often fall in the important but not urgent category, consider these 6 top considerations for IT in your small business: