To succeed in public relations, specialists need a way with words and people. It’s about continually staying on top of specific conversations and knowing how to join them in a way that’s helpful to their clients.
In the Digital Age, this has also meant knowing how to leverage the right technology to ensure a PR firm is always able to do so. It’s why managed IT services have become a standard across public relation firms big and small.
4 Reasons PR Firms Need Managed IT Services
Of course, public relations is hardly alone. Managed IT services have become commonplace across just about every industry. Still, there are four specific reasons why no PR firm can afford to go without this essential asset.
1. PR Firms Have More Pressing Priorities
Working in public relations can require wearing any number of different hats on any given day. A single agency can easily employ speechwriters, press-release writers, market researchers, event planners, crisis-management, specialists, and many others. Each of these employees has to juggle multiple priorities throughout the day but may also be asked to drop everything to take on a new, pressing challenge.
Consequently, most successful public relations firms don’t have a lot of office space available for IT specialists who can monitor and manage their networks. It makes much more sense to simply outsource these important jobs to specialists and use any office space for team members who can focus on PR-related work.
2. Backup Solutions Are Essential
Loss-of-data would be a major problem for any company, especially if the data were mission critical for the business’ ongoing operation. This is something in that every PR firm should worry. These agencies rely on a massive amount to effectively serve their clients every day. For example, most PR professionals have a virtual Rolodex they continuously need to reference to find PR opportunities for these clients.
Then, there’s all the sensitive information these companies offer need to keep under lock-and-key. This is information their clients have entrusted them with, personal details about their private lives to trade secrets. For PR agency to admit, they lost control of this information because their network collapsed without any backup protocols would be the beginning of the end. No client would ever want to trust them with the data again.
3. PR Professionals Need Cloud Access
PR specialists are busy. Often, their weekly requirements involve numerous trips out of the office. They may even need to catch a flight to visit their client onsite. Sometimes, these trips are planned. Plenty of times, they’re not.
This is when it helps to have managed IT services that can make a PR agency’s network available to any authorized user from any device they choose.
They can also leverage platforms like KIP print software, which allows them to print any network printer from a computer or mobile device. The firm’s employees can choose from color or black-and-white printing. These communications are all protected with encryption through SSL, too. With KIP print, PR specialists don’t need to be by a printer to print off important documents.
Bluebeam Revu is another example of technology that helps PR specialists do more when they’re on the move. Thanks to cloud accessibility, employees can log into Bluebeam Revu from anywhere to collaborate on projects. With managed IT services, PR firms can utilize platforms like Bluebeam Revu and KIP print with ease, knowing they have expert support monitoring at all times.
4. Managed IT Services Prevent Unnecessary Overhead
Finally, all of the above benefits could be possible for a PR firm if they invested in a full team of IT staff members. Aside from the challenges involved with understanding what positions would be necessary, posting for those jobs, and then hiring for them, there’s also the ongoing overhead to think about.
Even though profitability is starting to recover for most PR agencies, after the slump the industry saw for the last five or so years, most aren’t looking to take on significant overhead. Adding an IT department would undoubtedly fall into that category. Instead, outsource the work to managed IT services to receive all the advantages without the same investment.
Achieve Greater Results for PR Clients Using Managed IT Services
Your PR firm doesn’t need to struggle against competitors with the technological upper hand. Instead, enjoy the four benefits of managed IT services and use them to provide your clients with the best possible results.
At Blue Technologies, we specialize in outfitting public relations firms with the technology they need to meet their clients every need. Contact us today to learn more about how we can customize our managed IT services to fit your PR agency’s unique goals.
