Technology is always evolving for the better, and it’s important to keep your business up-to-date with the latest IT solutions. For the business and IT world, the latest spotlight is on managed IT services. Around the globe, small and medium companies are partnering with managed service providers(MSPs) to support their growing IT needs, which is driving the expected growth of managed services to more than $190 billion by 2019.
You’re an advertising agency. You’re a manufacturing plant. You’re a hospital. Every day you go to work, you want to do work in the fields you’ve selected because that’s what you’re passionate about and it’s what you’re good at. For this reason, many companies are moving away from simple service level agreements to deeper-level, more enhanced managed services contracts. The primary benefit is obvious: Managed services partnerships allow organizations to focus their efforts on what they do best, while leaving the complex world of IT to the experts who do it the best and love it the most!
With managed IT services, you gain a team of experts dedicated to monitoring and managing your network – so you can spend less time worrying about technology and more time overseeing your business as a whole. Whether you’re looking to alleviate the burden on your internal IT department or in need of an outsourced IT partner to take over the management of your network altogether, there’s no wrong way to go about the process. By leaving your IT infrastructure in the hands of technology specialists and experts, you’ll experience fewer glitches, increased security, and greater uptime. Here are three of the top reasons why you should make the switch to managed IT services today.
Here are the main reasons companies with internal IT are switching to managing IT service:
1.Cost Saving
According to a recent CompTIA of over 400 businesses using managed services providers, 46% have reduced their security budgets by at least 25% or more. Imagine that? Walking into the CFO’s office asking for a little less money. We can see the smile on both of your face. In the same survey, 13% of those who reduced budgets cut spending by over 50%. More smiles all around! Here’s another stat to share, you’ll like this one: 50% said they have cut annual costs anywhere from 1% to 24%. How does it happen? Outsourcing an IT infrastrucutre is much less expensive than investing in your own IT department. You don’t need to pay health benefits, vacation time or other perks to your managed service provider. All you need to do is pay them to keep you secure.
2. The latest and greatest is available
Traditional in-house IT staffers are ‘generalists’ in a technology sense, typically spread too thin by responding to support issues from every corner of the business. On the other hand, a managed services company has trained professionals that provide premium service. It’s a network of specialists that are fully immersed in the latest technological trends, issues and innovations.
3. More than a help desk
A flourishing managed services relationship spawns all kinds of new opportunities for proof-of-concepts, new innovations, security and more.
Nobody likes wasting their time in the office waiting for their computer to get fixed. This could lead to you having to push back your projects and day-to-day tasks – leading to unhappy customers and lost revenue. Most organizations simply don’t have the time or resources to monitor their network every minute of the day and be notified as soon as a potential problem arises. With managed IT services, you and your employees get proactive support 24/7, and your issues can be proactively resolved before they have a chance to become major headaches that result in downtime. With greater network protection and maintenance, you can easily dodge security threats and setbacks that could lead to your demise!
It’s almost impossible to predict the cost of an unplanned repair service when your servers or computers unexpectedly crash. Planning your technology budget can be extremely cumbersome when you don’t know exactly how your technology works or the scope of your IT problems. With a fixed monthly cost, managed IT services allow for businesses to budget their service expenses in a predictable manner. Stop paying for maintenance and troubleshooting every time you run into a technical glitch and make use of cost-effective managed IT services.
With someone constantly overseeing your network, desktops, and server environments, you can get the most out of your infrastructure and maximize your true potential. When working with an outsourced technology partner, you’re able to access a broad range of IT knowledge and expertise in more than one area of focus. Whether you need an IT consultant to advise you on your next project or someone to secure your infrastructure from the ground up, managed IT services gives you unlimited support to ensure your success.
7.Supplements IT Department Limits – Every IT department has their limit, whether it’s time or skill. That’s why, for some companies, it isn’t a question of, “Why should we use an MSP?”. Instead, it’s a given, since their IT team is overwhelmed with responsibilities.
8.Diverts In-House IT Staff’s Time – Managed IT services give IT staff the time they need to focus on more pressing in-house projects instead of shuffling between multiple responsibilities.
9.Delivers Optimal Security – No matter the industry, security is essential. One of the leading benefits of an MSP is they specialize in handling a company’s network security, which assures businesses their sensitive data is safe.
Offers a Proactive Approach to IT – Another answer for why businesses use an MSP is because these providers take a proactive approach to IT, ensuring networks, mobile devices and cloud services are up-to-date in maintenance, security patches and more.
10. Makes Expert Advice Accessible – While some IT departments have pros in cloud computing, they may be empty-handed when it comes to mobile device management. MSPs give businesses direct access to a community of experts in a range of subject matter areas
11. Improves Customer Relations and Service – Boosting customer relations is one answer to the question, “Why choose a managed service provider?” When MSPs eliminate or minimalize the downtime of their client’s services — whether it’s their online store or VoIP phone system — they enhance that client’s relationship with their customers, which can lead to more sales.
12. Boosts Workplace Productivity – A benefit of MSPs that companies cite is how they improve workplace productivity. With a secure, stable network and fewer help desk tickets, staff and IT departments can do more with their time in the office.
13. Prevents Expensive Downtime and Breaches – Security breaches and extensive downtime can turn expensive fast. Businesses with MSPs avoid these financial risks by receiving consistent updates to their network as well as risk assessments and fast responses when their network goes offline.
Since those who manage your IT will make sure it all runs efficiently every day, you need to have a team with a proven track record. One with several years (if not decades) of experience is preferable based on how much they’ve encountered in their career. The more problems they’ve had experience solving over the years, the more they can understand what they need to do to manage your technology.
Any quality managed services team needs to provide proof of their past track record. In their record, you need to check their flexibility in being able to solve complex problems. As mentioned above, consultants have diverse experience, so any flexible qualities in being able to solve unexpected issues is essential. Testimonials from other companies they’ve worked for can give you an idea of how they tackled various problems. You want confidence they’ll audit your company and understand your tech needs and business structure. If you’re a small to mid-sized business, this is vital since any downtime from failed IT tech could become financially devastating.
While you want thorough knowledge behind getting your tech problems solved, how fast your managed services team responds to problems needs just as much focus. Again, studying past testimonials can give you a good idea of how fast (and efficient) they solved emergency issues.
Most problems can get solved remotely, though it might require occasional in-person visitations for repair. Having someone there as quickly as possible can pare down how much downtime you’ll face. During a very critical moment (when experiencing an influx of visitors), you want complete assurance in turn-around time.