The technology service provider Qualcom has officially launched an IT support service for small to medium businesses in Ireland, a market the company said is worth close to €105m.
Called Virtual IT Manager, it is aimed at companies of between 10 to 35 employees that may not have a full-time IT professional on their staff. Research conducted by Qualcom found that such businesses tend to assign IT and network issues to unqualified employees, resulting in system downtime, lost revenues, unproductive employees and loss of focus.
The offsite services include 24-hour-a-day monitoring, regular maintenance and on-hand expertise when required. The service is tailored to each business and it includes regular scheduled engineer visits to the customer’s site.
The service is ideal in environments where there are networks, servers and multiple users. It flags potential problems before they arise and it helps to maintain consistent levels of computer equipment performance.
Qualcom said in a statement that there has been strong initial takeup for the service across business and professional services firms. One of the first customers is the branding and marketing firm PPAG. Phillip McLaughlan, managing director of PPAG, said: “Virtual IT Manager removes the headache of ensuring that our IT systems are current, compliant, secure and supporting our overall business goals. It is a real business enabling service to a company like ourselves, for whom a full-time IT manager is an unnecessary expense. Since opting for it, we have had no IT downtime.”
By Gordon Smith
