Technology is more important than ever to modern businesses, with many of them now relying almost entirely on digital systems for security, payroll, inventory management and logistics. This dependence on technology has also meant the money spent on IT services has spiraled. Whereas a decade ago even large companies could rely on one or two in-house IT engineers, today’s technology landscape has become so diverse that very few individuals have the required skillset to deal with all an organization’s needs. This leaves companies with the choice of hiring a large in-house team at great expense or the alternative of a managed service provider (MSP).
In this article we’re going to go over a few of the key advantages of outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider.
Access To A Diverse Team With Varying Skillsets
As managed services are provided by a team, you get the benefit of the collective experience and expertise of the whole team. A good managed service provider will have a mix of IT generalists and specialists. Newer areas of technology like configuring cloud computing require different skillsets to those required by a hardware expert who might be more skilled at building and repairing PCs. Luckily with a managed service provider you get both.
SLA Guarantee
Most managed service providers will offer support packages backed by a service level agreement (SLA). This ensures that you have an immutable timeline of when your problem will be addressed, this SLA may vary depending on which provider you choose and which support package you sign up for. Some businesses that are cloud-based and extremely reliant on IT might require a 1-hour SLA, whereas a brick and mortar shop might be able to run without PCs for 24 hours. It’s important to choose a provider and a package with an SLA that matches your business’ requirements.
Predictable And Transparent Pricing
Most managed service providers offer support packages on a fixed monthly or quarterly fee. This makes it easier to factor these costs into your budget. This also means you will receive the same level of service for the same price, without factors like sickness, holiday, training or personnel changes that can complicate your in- house IT services.
Enhanced Security
Cyber threats like hacking, ransomware and phishing emails are more present than ever. By using a managed service provider, you gain the benefit of enterprise-grade security. This keeps your business, its data and its customers safe from a plethora of online attacks.
Proactive IT
While traditional IT support is provided on a “break/fix” basis. A good managed service provider will be taking a proactive approach towards your network. As it is in their financial interest to limit the amount of time on site they need to spend, they will work to ensure that recurring problems are fixed and not just patched over. This stands in opposition to many in-house IT staff who can leave things unfixed as a way of making their continued employment a necessity.
Cost
Employing an in-house expert in every sector of the IT landscape will have a big impact on your bottom line. For almost all but the largest companies a managed service provider will be a significant saving, allowing you to take advantage of the expertise of dozens of staff for much less expense than hiring them individually. Even finding qualified staff can be difficult for many organizations. Companies looking for IT Services in New York often find that all the best talent has already been hired by managed service providers!
Save Office Space
In-house staff need somewhere to work and on-premises hardware like servers can use large amounts of space and electricity. By shifting to a managed service provider, you free up space. Most IT issues can be fixed remotely by skilled technicians at a helpdesk and a network engineer can travel to you when on-site support is required.
Focus On What You’re Really Passionate About
The growing reliance of the business world on IT has led to many people having to learn IT skills on top of their existing trade, this cuts in to training and work time that could be spent on your actual business. By switching to a managed service provider, you can dedicate 100% of your time to the parts of the business that your passionate about and leave the tech side to the experts.
Conclusion
We hope this guide has given you a good overview of the benefits of a managed service provider for your company's IT and tech support needs. There are, of course many more. While an IT MSP is not the best fit for every company, they are for most. Anyone serious about the efficiency, reliability and security of their network should consider whether their needs would be better met by a managed service provider.
