Why AI Startups Choose Jones IT as Their Managed Service Provider
What sets AI startups apart from other emerging businesses is that they exist at the intersection of cutting-edge innovation and persistent change. They are constantly racing against the clock to build newer models that learn, products that scale, and services redefining industries that until recently were far removed from AI. In this dynamic ecosystem, however, one thing has remained consistent– the need for an IT foundation that is rock-solid.
AI startups are heavily reliant on robust infrastructure, high availability, reliability, and the need to meet high security demands. Most startups typically have limited internal resources. Consequently, these IT demands quickly become a bottleneck, diverting precious resources away from core R&D.
This is where Jones IT comes in. By partnering with us, AI startups can offload operational complexity, access deep technical expertise, and leverage flexible, scalable IT support. This enables their in-house team to stay laser-focused on models, algorithms, and business success metrics, rather than on server crashes, cyberattacks, and compliance challenges.
We've had the opportunity to work closely with several innovative AI startups, including Brain.im, Elicit, Scale AI, and LabelBox, to name a few, giving us firsthand insight into the unique IT hurdles these organizations face. Drawing from that experience, this blog post explores the biggest IT challenges confronting AI startups today and how Jones IT’s tailored services help turn them into strategic advantages.
Top IT challenges AI startups face and how to overcome them:
1. Scaling IT Infrastructure with Growth
Securing traction and funding is a huge milestone! As your AI startup powers on to a new phase of growth, you shouldn’t get sidetracked by growing infrastructure needs. Whether you are moving into a new office, upgrading your network infrastructure, or adding swanky conference rooms, Jones IT can help you set up an optimal infrastructure that is ready to scale with you, so you can focus on building breakthrough AI products.
Here’s how Jones IT can help:
New Office Setup
While relocating or expanding your workspace may appear simple, it can get complicated fast. But, it doesn’t have to. From the tedious bits like planning to the critical parts like execution, we provide end-to-end solutions for moving into a new office space, delivering an IT environment custom-built for performance and scalability.
Wired for Growth: We manage all your cabling and networking needs, from server rooms to workstations, ensuring consistent connectivity across your office.
Smart Hardware Deployment: From server racks to employee devices, we handle setup, installation, and configuration so everything’s ready on day one.
Security from the Start: Physical security systems and cybersecurity protocols are baked into the setup, protecting your assets, data, and intellectual property.
Future-Proofing Your Network
As your team scales, so does the demand on your network. To ensure that your teams have constant access to a high-performing and secure network, we optimize network performance from the ground up:
Install high-performance, enterprise-grade routers and switches.
Set up secure, high-coverage Wi-Fi that seamlessly works across your space.
Deploy next-gen firewalls and access controls to keep threats out.
Tune your infrastructure for fast, stable, and secure collaboration.
Conference Room Upgrades
Whether you need to impress investors and visitors or seamlessly collaborate with remote teams, a smart, reliable conference room is sure to do the trick. Let us elevate your conference rooms and meeting rooms to the next level with:
HD displays and professional A/V systems,
One-click video conferencing systems that just work, and
Smart control systems that elevate the conference room experience.
2. Compliance and Data Security
AI startups operate in a high-stakes environment where data privacy, system integrity, and regulatory compliance are critical. Startups that lack mature security practices become prime targets for cyberattacks, resulting in breaches that can cost $4.88 million or more per incident. Moreover, AI companies often deal with sensitive data such as medical images, financial records, or personal profiles. Such data demands strict controls around storage, access, and breach reporting imposed by regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA, depending on the industry and jurisdiction. If you want bigger contracts and more investors, you'll need SOC 2 or ISO compliance. Often, you are required to meet stringent security and privacy requirements even before closing your seed round.
How Jones IT helps:
At Jones IT, we understand that regulatory and legal challenges are among the top reasons startups fail. Adopting a compliance-first approach not only mitigates these risks but also enhances your startup's reputation and provides a solid foundation for sustainable growth.
We proactively address security and compliance challenges using a layered security strategy designed to evolve with your business. We don’t wait for security issues to arise; we build defenses from day one, combining physical, administrative, and technical controls along with hands-on support from seasoned compliance professionals.
Conduct A Risk Assessment
We’ll conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities within your IT systems. This assessment will guide the development of appropriate security measures and controls tailored to your startup's unique risks.
Write Policies That Mitigate Identified Risks
Using the insights drawn from the risk assessment, we’ll create clear and specific policies addressing identified risks. Our policy development consists of a holistic process covering administrative, physical, and technical controls to ensure that your startup is secured by a multi-layer security.
Implement Security Controls
Based on the policies developed, we deploy security measures to address gaps and vulnerabilities. This may involve upgrading existing systems or introducing new solutions like Mobile Device Management (MDM) or Identity and Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools.
Gather And Retain Evidence
Compliance standards often require you to demonstrate that you are conforming to your policies and furnish evidence to prove that you’re enforcing your policies. We help you automate this burdensome task by implementing solutions that continuously monitor and collect evidence of your security controls and streamline compliance workflows, ensuring audit readiness.
Perform Regular Audits And Remediation
Once compliance is achieved, we help you maintain it by establishing a system of regular internal audits and remediation. Our thorough internal audits will review your security controls and their effectiveness in mitigating risks arising from changes to your tech stack, business processes, or threat landscape, document the findings, and implement remediation.
By proactively addressing regulatory requirements, we help you to not only achieve compliance and reduce legal risks but also create a resilient foundation for growth.
3. Day-To-Day Helpdesk
AI startups depend on data scientists and engineers, whose expertise lies in algorithms, machine learning models, and pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence, not in troubleshooting everyday IT issues. Pulling these bright minds away from high-value projects to fix VPN connectivity issues or network outages is a terrible waste of time and talent. Doing so not only disrupts product development timelines and delays crucial milestones but also leads to frustration and burnout within your core team, impacting morale and potentially increasing attrition. This is especially true when you are scaling up and IT issues suddenly start to mushroom.
How Jones IT helps:
At Jones IT, we provide responsive, reliable, and scalable helpdesk support that frees your internal team to focus entirely on strategic initiatives. We become your trusted IT operations partner, managing both day-to-day technical issues and more complex support needs.
Multi-Channel, Always-On Support
Reach us via Slack, Teams, email, phone, or our ticketing system, whichever works best for your team.
Our US-based support team is available when you need it, offering rapid response times and consistent issue resolution.
Comprehensive Tier 1–3 Support
We handle everything from password resets and printer issues to network outages and OS troubleshooting.
Complex issues are escalated seamlessly within our team; no losing precious time hunting down multiple vendors or figuring out who owns what.
Dedicated Team Familiar with Your Stack
Your account is managed by a dedicated team that understands your tools, systems, and workflows.
Teams consist of IT technicians, network engineers, systems engineers, and project specialists. This ensures each issue quickly reaches the right expert, reducing escalation time and increasing first-call resolution.
Scalable Support as You Grow
We can rapidly scale helpdesk operations as your team expands, whether you grow from 10 to 100 or 1000.
We provide regular reports on ticket volume, resolution time, and recurring issues to inform planning and prevent bottlenecks.
By offloading the daily IT grind to Jones IT, your engineers and scientists can stay laser-focused on building products and pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. No more wasted time troubleshooting. No more missed milestones due to IT setbacks. Just fast, frictionless support, exactly when and how your team needs it.
4. Onboarding and Offboarding at Scale
As startups scale, hiring top talent can become a serious challenge. Recruiting the right people is tough as it is, providing them seamless onboarding can also turn into a major source of headache, especially for remote teams distributed across time zones. Fragmented, manual processes spread across finance, procurement, HR, and IT departments can introduce risks, delays, and inefficiencies.
Manual provisioning of devices and accounts adds another layer of friction, and without visibility into the full device lifecycle, companies face two costly outcomes:
Under-provisioning, which delays productivity and frustrates new hires
Over-provisioning, which ties up valuable capital in unused or misplaced equipment
For lean startups focused on moving fast, neither scenario is sustainable.
How Jones IT helps:
Seamless Onboarding
We streamline the entire onboarding process, making the lives of your IT, HR, and procurement team a whole lot easier. Whether you’re hiring locally or across borders, we ensure every new hire has what they need, from day one.
Automated device provisioning: We procure, configure, and ship laptops and devices to employees, ready to use out of the box.
Centralized account setup: From email and collaboration tools to specialized software, we pre-configure accounts so that employees can log in and get to work without delay.
Real-time tracking and visibility: Know exactly where each device is, what it’s running, and who’s using it. This eliminates confusion, improves inventory management, and helps forecast future needs accurately.
Secure and Compliant Offboarding
When employees leave, security and asset recovery are top priorities. Our offboarding solutions reduce friction and risk through:
Automated deprovisioning: We revoke access to all apps, data, and services in one streamlined process, reducing the risk of data leaks.
Device retrieval and repurposing: We handle the return logistics of laptops and other hardware, sanitize the devices securely, and either redeploy them or prepare them for environmentally responsible recycling.
Audit-ready documentation: Every step of the offboarding process is logged for compliance and internal tracking, helping you meet legal and operational standards.
By creating customized onboarding and offboarding processes alongside our proprietary application, Bonboard for Device Lifecycle Management (DLM), we don’t just help startups overcome the challenges of hiring at scale, but turn it into a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
AI startups thrive on speed and agility, which means their IT infrastructure and operations need to keep pace. Without nimble, responsive IT support in place, even the most brilliant teams can find themselves bogged down by avoidable challenges.
Partnering with Jones IT gives AI startups instant access to deep expertise across day-to-day IT management, helpdesk, network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and compliance, without the fixed costs and hiring headaches. This strategic collaboration creates a solid, scalable, and cost-controlled IT foundation necessary for sustained growth and innovation.
Are you an AI startup looking to accelerate your growth without IT growing pains? Discover how our co-managed and fully managed IT services can vault your IT to the next level, so you can focus on building the future. Let’s talk.
About The Author
Hari SubediMarketing Manager at Jones IT
Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, and Small Business. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.
