Many SMEs still work with it: IT is called in only when something breaks down. A server that breaks down, e-mail that no longer works, a PC that is suddenly slow. You call your IT guy, he fixes the problem, sends you an invoice and everyone moves on. At first glance, this seems logical and inexpensive. In practice, break/fix IT is one of the biggest brakes on growth, efficiency and security.

Break/fix IT is reactive by definition. You only take action when things have already gone wrong. This means that the real cost is not in the invoice, but in everything around it: lost work time, frustration among employees, customers who wait, deadlines that shift and opportunities that disappear. These costs are not immediately visible in your accounting, but they are definitely there.

What we often see with SMBs is that IT is so quietly taking on a firefighting role. Everything runs, until it doesn’t. And when things go wrong, often part of the business is at a standstill. Half a day without e-mail or files is no exception. Do the math: multiple employees unable to work, managers having to improvise and customers becoming dissatisfied. That’s no longer an incident; that’s structural inefficiency.

Another problem is that break/fix IT leaves no room for forward thinking. There is no time for optimization, no plan for growth, no structural security approach. Systems are patched rather than thoughtfully built. IT becomes a burden, when it should just be a lever. New tools are added ad hoc, without coherence, without clear agreements. The result: complexity, errors and dependence on one person who “knows the system.”

Break/fix is also downright dangerous in terms of security. Cyber threats don’t wait for you to call. Updates that don’t happen on time, backups that are never tested, user rights that persist even though employees are long gone. In a break/fix model, security is almost always an afterthought, until things go wrong. And then the damage is often far greater than a single invoice.

In addition, break/fix IT works budgetarily misleading. It seems cheap as long as everything is running, but the costs are unpredictable. Nothing one month, a heavy bill the next. That makes planning difficult and creates stress with every outage. Modern SMEs need predictability, both operationally and financially. IT should not be a surprise in that.

What many business owners underestimate is the impact on their team. Employees today simply expect IT to work. When systems are slow or fail regularly, not only does productivity drop, but so does confidence. People look for workarounds, store data locally, use private tools. This makes the situation even more fragile and confusing.

So break/fix IT keeps your business in a kind of survival mode. You solve problems, but you don’t build anything. You react, but you don’t manage. And as long as that remains the case, IT will never become a true support of your business goals.

Moving to a mature IT approach starts with one insight: IT is not a cost you minimize, but a foundation you manage. That means proactive maintenance, clear agreements, monitoring, security and a long-term vision that matches your growth. Not because you “have to,” but because it moves your business forward.

Want to know where your organization stands today and when break/fix gives way to mature IT operation? Then be sure to read our pillar page “When is your IT mature?” and find out what steps are needed to move from reactive to strategic.