One of the most important investments that your business can make is in the safety, functionality and effectiveness of your technology. An in-house team may be able to support your business; however, outsourcing often brings more long-term benefits. A managed IT service provider who takes the time to understand and work with you to accomplish your business’s goals can be incredibly valuable, even beyond the benefits listed below.
Today, many businesses are partnering up with IT managed service providers. Sixty percent of businesses use IT managed services, and that figure is expected to continue to grow. And that’s due to the many benefits of the services these professionals provide. Here’s a list of benefits to taking a look at.
There’s no such thing as low-maintenance IT. Every system needs regular patches and upgrades, daily backups, and regular monitoring. And even with all that ongoing support, networks get overloaded, disks fill up, and servers crash. Businesses need a plan and the resources to give their IT infrastructure the attention it needs.
One option is to have your own in-house IT staff. That approach gives you an on-site team, but you probably can’t have an expert in every technology you use on staff. Another option is to rely on an on-call support service. They’ll fix problems for you, but they only come after there’s already a problem that’s impacting your business.
The third option for looking after your IT infrastructure is to use managed services. In this model, the managed services provider takes over the management, maintenance, and monitoring of your system on an everyday basis. They aren’t there just for when problems occur; they’re there to help prevent problems from occurring in the first place.
How high is the return on investment having an MSP?
For the same cost as a small in-house team, a managed IT service provider (MSP) offers far more resources to benefit your business. An MSP can offer a much larger team of IT professionals as well as access to the most cutting-edge technology solutions to empower your business. They are also often more effective at protecting your organization from cyber threats. MSPs offer far more resources and thus, value than a conventional in-house IT team is able to for the same price point.
The investment in specialist hardware and the software will be high. A managed service offers the highest quality enterprise and carrier-grade solutions to customers. A fixed monthly payment plan means you know what you’re going to get and how much it’s going to cost over the contract. No unexpected upgrade charges or changes in charges, guaranteed.
Can managed services cut down cost? The answer is yes. It can also make your IT expenses more predictable. With managed services, your costs are neatly packaged into a set amount paid on an annual or monthly basis. An in-house IT team, on the other hand, comes with many more frequent and unexpected expenses that can quickly drain your budget.
Networks come with a lot of equipment that needs to be maintained and sometimes repaired or replaced. MSPs provide maintenance as well as repairs as part of the contract, so a fix that might cost you thousands of dollars out of pocket is absorbed by the provider. This model shields your budget from extreme fluctuation, improving the stability of your business overall.
Small businesses benefit immensely from managed services because the up-front cost to start is so much lower. When a business starts from scratch, the initial costs of hiring and training a team while simultaneously paying for the servers and other equipment necessary can be financially overwhelming.
What is the efficiency of having MSP?
By outsourcing the management of your IT, your business can focus on your core offering. Time spent training new IT employees is transferred to the MSP. The MSP will also ensure that your business is adhering to your industry’s standards and regulations, once again saving you time and resources. Additionally, outsourcing to an MSP will ensure that your technology is being properly maintained, thus reducing outages and increasing up-time for your employees.
When companies try to do all the IT themselves in-house, it winds up being inefficient and costly in the long run. There much more time invested in implementation, research and development. And all of these costs just pass down to customers. Save on operational costs and keep your costs for services and products more affordable for customers and more competitive for your competition.
How can an MSP increase productivity?
You may have individuals on staff with IT experience who were hired to develop programs or to train employees. However, it is easy for them to get sidetracked with miscellaneous requests from coworkers, such as asking for help with log-in issues, thus causing a loss in productivity.
Outsourcing to a managed IT services company provides your employees with a dedicated helpline to call when they have IT issues. In turn, this allows your retainer IT staff to focus on the tasks that they were hired to perform.
When your employees can hand off tech issues to a dedicated, outsourced team, they can remain on task in fulfilling their daily work duties. This keeps their productivity high, so you can meet your daily business goals and continue to push the annual growth of the company. With your employees on task, rather than dealing with IT issues, your business operations can continue running smoothly day after day.
Who should be in the team of managed IT service providers?
A Managed IT Service Provider’s employees will most likely have experience and knowledge from a variety of different industries. Employees also frequently continue their education and earn new certifications while an MSP employs them, and so offer an ever-deepening level of expertise. Additionally, because your business outsourced to an MSP, the MSP will cover the cost of the training and continuing education, unlike with an in-house team (where the cost would stay in-house).
How can you be sure that the IT employee is truly qualified for the position? With an IT managed service provider, you get a professional who is certified, trained, qualified and experienced. And if you’re planning to train an IT employee, keep in mind that certifications like Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) are very expensive.
No matter how much you train an IT employee, that training is isolated, and the employee may not have the right experience. An IT managed service provider sends an IT professional who is highly experienced. When you see a physician, you want one with experience, right? The same holds true for IT.
Hiring an IT team is expensive and time-consuming, and you can’t know for sure how good they are until they’re faced with a serious network issue. Some may pass the test with flying colors. Others may not be able to resolve the problem in a timely manner or at all, costing your company money you can’t afford to waste.
Even when your IT staff is competent and comfortable with your systems, you may find they are not well-equipped to operate or maintain new equipment and systems as you add them. The most common issue is that even the most well-trained employees don’t have the knowledge and experience of an MSP’s large team.
An MSP can provide specialized services to fill in any gaps in your team’s expertise. It doesn’t make sense to have an employee learn a whole new skill set for a one-time project. An MSP gives you access to a team of experts with precise skills you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
How secure your data with Manage IT services providers?
Cloud-Based Services
Fear of a security breach is a major hindrance for most businesses who are considering moving to cloud-based platforms. However, cloud-based access is imperative for users who need to access websites and accounts via their mobile devices. The cloud also enables your employees to work remotely and access your network while travelling. An MSP can not only help you securely move to a cloud-based platform but will also manage its upkeep going forward.
Avoidance of Security Breaches
Cybercrime is always evolving, but you can keep your organization as safe as possible by outsourcing your cybersecurity to a specialist who keeps up-to-date with the latest defences. Your consultant will also assist your staff in recognizing and avoiding the latest threats aimed at them, thus further decreasing the risk of a security breach. Though cybersecurity is technically outside of the typical offerings of an MSP, most expand their services to include cybersecurity offerings.
Will you have better management of up-time with Managed IT services providers?
Every IT system needs to be updated regularly to increase efficiency and avoid downtime. To maximize up-time during the regular workday, system updates typically will need to be done after hours. With an in-house team, this can often lead to overtime expenses.
With information technology outsourcing, a team of qualified professionals will perform the upgrades remotely when it is least disruptive to your staff. Up-time will be maintained, or even increased, with no additional overtime costs to you.
Downtime most often crops up due to equipment issues. Servers can fail, and computers can malfunction. Electrical disruptions can occur as well. These issues are usually mitigated by implementing redundant equipment that allows systems to switch to a backup when there is a failure.
Unintentional human error accounts for a significant chunk of downtime, and there’s not much you can do to avoid it. Employing strong safeguards in critical systems is the best way to reduce potential risk.
How can managed services minimize your network downtime?
System attacks can also take out your networks and data. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to cybercrime. Up to two-thirds of attacks are targeted at small businesses, and small businesses are the least likely to have protections in place that would minimize downtime in the event of a cyber attack.
Reducing the risk of downtime is a multi-faceted task that an in-house team may not have the bandwidth or experience to tackle effectively. Managed services can cut down costs associated with downtime by preventing it from happening in the first place.
Managed IT services use remote monitoring technology to keep an eye on your systems day and night. Real-time alerts mean any problems that occur can be corrected before they have a noticeable impact on your business.
Without constant monitoring, it’s easy for a network issue to happen during off-hours. If a system goes down in the middle of the night, it might take some time before anyone finds out. In some cases, the problem isn’t discovered until the next day — after significant damage has already been done. Remote monitoring allows your MSP to take instant corrective action as soon as they receive an alert.
How can managed IT services help your business against the competition?
Outsourcing your IT allows you to focus on other aspects of your business to gain a competitive advantage while simultaneously adding to your value proposition.
Additionally, cybersecurity is often a top-of-mind concern for your business’s potential clientele. A safe and secure company who they can trust with their sensitive data is certainly more attractive than an untrustworthy one. Often, MSPs also expand their services into cybersecurity, and so are able to provide access to the latest cybersecurity technology to defend you and your clientele.
Reinvest In Your Business
Often, budget constraints limit the opportunities that could help your business expand. By outsourcing to an MSP, you will be able to reallocate the excess funds that were previously spent on an in-house IT department to further the development of your business.
What are the advantages of having managed IT services?
Boosts Data Security
Computer software and hardware issues can have a detrimental impact on the security of your business data. Especially since most of these problems remain hidden from view until a catastrophic loss of data occurs. Therefore, your company and client information likely remain at risk without help from a skilled IT expert. These professionals specialize in optimizing security at the network, server and workstation levels, so you can focus on running your business without worry.
Security is a common concern among most business leaders and having up to date security protecting your network is arguably the most important aspect of a business’s technology.
Managed Service packages generally offer a solution to monitor your Firewall, Anti-Virus, and apply the latest updates and patches to ensure that your network is as secure as possible.
Ensures Regulatory Compliance
With improved data security, you can rest assured that you are not breaching regulatory compliance rules for your industry. Your managed IT service professionals stay on the cutting edge of security to ensure their clients always remain in compliance. You can customize your service plan with the right level of protection for your company and its associated industry regulations.
Decreases Equipment Upkeep and Repair Expenses
You can decrease the amount you spend on upkeep and repair of your equipment with oversight from skilled IT professionals. These pros will only perform the necessary tasks that are required to maintain your daily business operations. Their ability to track down the problem and fix it the first time around will likely prove invaluable as you work on minimizing downtime and boosting employee productivity. These professionals can also help you time and plan your equipment upgrades perfectly to avoid wasting money on unnecessary items or overspending on parts.
Ability to Easily Expand
As your business achieves phenomenal growth, you will likely need to add computer equipment and make other key adjustments to accommodate your team and their needs. Your managed IT service provider can help you develop a plan that supports your current and future levels of growth. You can build a more reliable network, upgrade your software and add computers to your workplace, for example, in support of your company’s continued success.
Peace of Mind
When you sign up for managed services, you will give yourself true peace of mind in knowing that all your IT needs are handled. You can call for service any time that your computer equipment acts up or software programs fail to operate as expected. You will receive support and oversight in the prevention of problems that would otherwise cause much downtime for your employees. Through all the managed IT service benefits, peace of mind comes out on top as it allows you to focus on what really matters –accelerating the success of your company.
How does managed IT services work for any budget?
With your managed service partnership, you can build your custom IT plan around the exact needs of your company. You can select the items that will benefit you the most and leave the rest. If you only need computer and cloud support, for example, you can leave all server-related services off your plan. You are not locked into the services you select in the beginning either. You can also make adjustments to the scope of your managed IT service plan as you expand your operations.
What should be the setup of your managed IT service plan?
With a look at these managed IT service benefits, it is clear that there are many ways this arrangement can boost the success of your business. You can get started in building this partnership by calling your preferred managed service provider. With this call, you can share the network, equipment and other IT needs of your company to start building your plan.
If you are uncertain of your company’s IT needs, that is okay. Using their skills and expertise, your service provider will assist in identifying the areas that will help your business grow and thrive. Your IT pros will also take a close look at your industry, including all regulations, to help you find the appropriate level of service for your company’s success through the years.
How does managed IT services work?
Increases Speed of IT Repairs
When you acquire managed IT services for your company, you can report any and all tech issues as they arise and receive a prompt response. Upon receiving your call, your managed service provider will immediately look into the problem and find the most effective solution. With their years of experience in this realm, their IT experts have likely come across the problem before and already know how to fix it. This makes for very speedy service that helps keep your business operations moving forward without disruption.
Prevents Tech Issues
Managed IT services prove extremely valuable in the prevention of tech issues of all kinds. From malware attacks to hardware failure, your IT service professionals can stay ahead of the leading issues and potentially keep them from cropping up at all. Through these preventative actions, you can avoid unnecessary downtime that could otherwise derail the work efforts of your entire staff.
Staff Availability
Whether your business has an internal IT staff or someone with split duties within your organization, you have a resource dedicated to handling the day-to-day maintenance and upkeep of your network.
If that person is a dedicated IT person, they probably don’t have the time to do what needs to be accomplished because they are constantly putting out fires. If that person has split duties (IT and Accounting or Operations, for example), they don’t have time to fully focus on either of their duties in order to accomplish what their primary job entails.
A basic Managed Service package allows your IT person to focus on what really needs to be done instead of the day-to-day maintenance and allows your split resource the ability to focus on their primary job, instead of worrying about the technology working properly.
Of course, there are more advantages to managed services, outsourcing your IT, and remote network management. These are just our top five – controlled costs, access to experts, focus on your business, proactive solutions, and cybersecurity. But also remember that there are benefits like scalability that should be considered as well. Overall, managed services can make it far easier to expand and update your IT as needed over time.
Managed IT services will always evolve. Where once managed services mainly referred to the monitoring and management of hardware, it now also encompasses labour, support, and software-as-a-service. The possibilities are constantly opening up, and the benefits are there for the taking.