The IT advice your small business needs
Matt Kuter’s small business background started as a teenager helping his dad with ‘IT stuff’ and with over 20 years experience in the IT industry, his two passions have come together at ITgeniq.
Matt’s goals as the Chief IT Problem Solver is to assist his client’s ‘future proof ‘ their business from the beginning to ensure they are prepared to grow.
As part of the Lunch Bites series The Business of Food held during May 2020, Jane Del Rosso spoke with Matt to understand more about his passion for IT and the role of IT in reducing the workload of small business owners.
Matt is seriously passionate about ‘open source’ software, which means he can deliver an IT platform for his clients that is much cheaper than they expect. Open source software, is free for anyone to use as the developer has publicly shared it with the IT world.. What the developer asks for in return is any changes made by users to the original software is also freely shared with the IT world so everyone benefits.
Hear Matt’s passion and a longer explanation of open software by watching the full episode on our YouTube channel.
Matt works hard to make the use of open source software, such as Word Press which many use for their websites, to save costs where he can for a client so they can focus on purchasing IT solutions that match their business needs.
The Business of Food assists many of their clients to identify their long term business goals as it makes a big difference to how you establish a food business and plan to achieve your goals . We can see how it’s a strategic approach to establish your IT systems at the same time. For Matt, he finds it an interesting challenge – as he must understand the business processes and procedures first before he can map the software the client needs. It takes extra time at the beginning, often working in partnership with his client to develop efficient processes, however it is much cheaper than a retro IT fix after the business has been running for a few years.
IT tips from Matt for you:
You are never too small to get advice for their IT. If you are growing to grow – you need to sort your IT when small, so not side tracked by IT problems as you grow
Think about your business strategy first before making IT decisions. Even before selecting your web platform or building your website, be aware of how you plan to sell your product and how you want to communicate with your customers. This way you can choose IT options that efficiently link together and will make it easier to run your business operations
The sweet spot for businesses to really have their IT systems properly defined is when they have reached 10-15 employees, as it will assist in all staff to be aware of standard operating processes which ultimately delivers consistent customer service delivery
Get more tips from his blog, which is not full of IT jargon!
The Business of Food likes Matt’s approach to IT as he is practical and works hard to keep costs down for his clients. As Matt does not represent a particular software company, he isn’t ‘selling’ his clients the same option. Instead his networking with the IT industry means he can call on other experts to assist him put together an IT package that best suits his clients.
To view other lunchtime bites session go to The Business of Food You Tube channel and of course get in touch if you need assistance through a strategic coaching session.