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Good IT management is vital for your business. Taking care of your IT will not only help you to protect your system from cyber-attack, it will also help you keep control of IT costs, keep your hardware and software up-to-date and relevant, form a clear strategy for your technical needs, and even help you identify operational weaknesses.
Instead of the expense of a specialist department run by a chief information officer, many companies outsource IT service management to a specialist company. The advantages are that support can be offered 24/7, with the specialist hardware and software needed to keep up-to-date in what is a very fast-moving environment, and the economies of scale when it comes to buying new equipment.
However, many companies want to try and save costs by cherry-picking aspects of their IT managed services, which actually puts their system at greater risk and the service provider in a difficult position. From our point of view, without jurisdiction over the whole system, we cannot guarantee a fully effective service.
Protecting your building
A good analogy for comparison is to imagine you are hiring a security company to protect your business premises. If you pay them to take care of everything, they will always have an overview of the entire operation. If a particular guard is off sick or on annual leave, the company will know there’s a potential weak point and be in a position to do something about it before it becomes a problem. If an alarm is triggered unexpectedly, the company will be able to swiftly deploy resources to sort things out, hopefully without any break in business for you.
However, if you want to save money, you may take some of the security company’s responsibilities away. If you are only willing to pay for enough guards to protect the front door, they won’t have any control over who is guarding the back door – and maybe no-one is. For the sake of saving money, you are taking away the security company’s ability to adequately protect your business.
Protecting your IT system
When you outsource the management of your IT system, the issue is the same. By adopting a pick and mix approach to what you’re willing to outsource, you are effectively weakening the entire system. Conversely, if your service provider has a complete overview of your entire IT system, their service becomes more efficient, more effective and adds much greater value.
We understand that outsourcing so much control is a huge leap of faith for some business owners, especially if they have been running a small business where they are used to having an operational input into every aspect of the company. We’ve learnt through experience that owners who struggle to let go completely make the job of any outsourcing company more difficult. However, those who trust us enough to let us do what we do best can spend more time on their core business.
Protecting your sleep
If you are a CEO or business owner, the main benefit of outsourcing end-to-end IT management is that it is, basically, one less thing to worry about; one less thing to keep you awake at night. Through SLAs(Service Level Agreements) and reporting, you will always be kept informed about what is happening, but you will no longer have to be involved in making it happen yourself. You can then rest assured that you have the best hardware and software for your company’s needs, your business is supported at all times, including during non-trading hours, there are experts who are dedicated to ensuring it is up-to-date and secure, and that if there ever was a worst case scenario, your company could have the ability to continue trading with minimal or no loss of data.
If you would like to discuss how your business will benefit from outsourced end-to-end IT managed services, contact us to arrange an appointment.
Lumina Technologies have taken the time to understand the requirements of our business and work as our strategic IT partner, enabling us to concentrate on delivering a high quality service to our clients and focus on our growth strategy. They have delivered a 100% cloud solution to our business with no underlying infrastructure costs or maintenance, which gives us scalability for our planned growth. It also means our business critical applications and data are securely accessible from virtually all our user devices. Lumina’s professional approach and strategic expertise is highly valued and their management of our IT – based on their in-depth knowledge, leaves us confident that our systems are available 24×7.
Luke Harrison
Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
Robin Illingworth
Managing Partner, Adams & Remers LLP
The quality of IT Support provided by Lumina Technology is of the highest standard and is complemented by effective client liaison with impressive response times. Trap Oil Group plc has no hesitation in recommending Lumina as a dedicated and specialist group of IT professionals.
Martin David
Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
Carolyn Addison
Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
Lumina Technologies Prism Hosted Desktop has allowed our business to centralise our global corporate data, allowing much faster access for all our staff – regardless of their location. We have also been able to simplify and reduce our infrastructure and management overhead. With the new Prism Hosted Desktop solution all staff now have simple and secure access to corporate data using any device they choose. Prism Hosted Desktop has increased the productivity of our staff and given us a single, consistent and familiar experience for all users from any device, in any location, 24/7.
Katherine Roe
Chief Executive Officer, Wentworth Resources PLC
The commercially sensitive and regulated nature of Lambert Energy Advisory’s business requires an IT provider able to maintain the highest levels of integrity and confidentiality, Lumina Technologies has consistently been unimpeachable in this regard over the nine years we have employed them.
Patrick Agar
Lambert Energy Advisory
It has been a great pleasure working with Lumina Technologies over the past two years. They have fully committed to being involved in the local community with volunteering and with professional advice and commitment, helping many local charities along the way. As a growing company it proves that being involved in the local community is helping them attract and retain a talented workforce and I look forward to working with them well into the future.
Cindy Withey
Connect Dacorum
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd is a small company for which IT Outsourcing is realistically the only viable option. Lumina Technologies have successfully performed this role for over fifteen years. They also provide innovative solutions to keep pace with technological progress. I would have no hesitation in recommending Lumina to similar sized businesses.
Stephen Pembury
Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP have been using Lumina Technologies for a number of years now and continue to be impressed by the technical know-how and contemporary knowledge of their senior management, who provide a timely, efficient and friendly service. Whether it is a small issue with one computer, or a strategic IT decision, they maintain a current knowledge of available technologies. Lumina are always at the other end of the phone to help resolve issues and minimise business interference. The technical knowledge of Richard and his senior team means that there has not been a problem that they can’t solve to date. I am sure we will continue to use them in the years to come.
Charles Douglas
Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
The team at Lumina Technologies have made the Amoun Travel & Tours office IT transition seamless and problem free. The office set-up has been vastly improved and the IT Support services are flawless. No issue goes unresolved, which is extremely reassuring.
Adam Helmy
Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
Lumina Technologies has been Salamander Energy plc’s IT provider since start-up in 2005 and has supported us in London during our expansion across operational offices in SE Asia. Their professional approach, strategic advice and close co-operation have been essential in making this a success.
John Bell
Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
Richard and his team at Lumina have provided Perrett Laver Limited with high quality strategic and practical IT Services for over ten years. During this period, Perrett Laver has grown from 10+ colleagues based in London to nearly 100 colleagues located in six offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Richard and the Lumina team have not just been responsive to our ‘everyday’ IT needs, but have proactively sought to work with us on developing an infrastructure suitable for the type of operation we are today, and are planning to be months and years down the line. I would not hesitate to recommend Richard, especially for small to medium size business with growth in mind.
Clementine McKinley
COO, Perrett Laver Limited
Society Limited has been supported by Lumina Technologies since our earliest start-up phase. From large logistical challenges like an office move, through to smaller fiddly issues like fixing a faulty e-template, we know we can count on their support and advice. They’ve also been able to engage with us strategically on the challenge of scaling-up our infrastructure as the firm continues to grow and evolve. We always feel confident going to Lumina with a problem, since we know they genuinely care about sorting things out and helping us to get on with our core business.
Simon Lucas
Managing Director, Society Limited
The Vita Group HQ staff have worked with Richard McBarnet and Lumina Technologies for over 9 years, with Lumina providing all our PC, server, phone, and software support. The services have included C-level executives based in London, Manchester, the US, as well as supporting home office IT as well. The service provided and intellectual capabilities are outstanding and we would highly recommend Richard and his Lumina team.
Joe Menendez
CEO, The Vita Group
We worked with Lumina on a GDPR Audit. Richard was knowledgeable and professional throughout, and did the best he could to bring a dry topic to life through lots of real life examples and analogies. We were so impressed with the service Lumina provided and the value we got from partnering with them on this project – we couldn’t recommend them enough.
Holly Cottingham, Vintec Laboratories
