What are managed services?
Every company uses technology to compete in its field and maximize efficiency. Businesses rely on networks and IT more than ever before, and the resources needed to support their teams are constantly growing. For many small businesses, this often means sacrificing the quantity or quality of network maintenance to conserve limited resources.
Managed services are a way to outsource maintenance and repair work to experts. A modern managed service provider (MSP) performs many functions for your business, such as:
- Â Network management
- Â Data backup
- Â Network security
- Â Communications
- Â IT support
What is a managed service provider?
These services take the pressure off internally. The IT team frees them up to help your employees complete daily tasks with greater efficiency and focus.
If your network performance bogs your business, then you should try managed services.
Managed Services Pros show that partnering with an MSP is the best way to affordably simplify IT management.
Low Cost
Can managed services reduce costs? The answer is yes. It can also make your IT costs more predictable. With managed services, fees are neatly packaged into a fixed amount that is paid annually or monthly. An in-house IT team, on the other hand, has much more frequent and unexpected expenses that can quickly drain your budget.
Internet service networks contain many devices that require maintenance and sometimes repair or replacement. MSPs offer maintenance and repairs as part of the contract, so the service provider takes care of repairs that can cost you thousands of dollars. This model protects your budget against extreme fluctuations and improves the stability of your business.
Small businesses can benefit greatly from managed services because the initial costs are much lower. When starting a business from scratch, the initial costs of hiring and training a team and paying for servers and other necessary equipment can be financially overwhelming.
Scaling
The price tag associated with maintaining your own IT team is high, so you often see teams that are underbuilt, overburdened, and unable to do everything due to a lack of time and resources. It won’t work every day, and it certainly won’t fly when your business is trying to expand. It costs thousands of dollars to train even one more employee for your IT department, and there is never a guarantee that they will even stay with the company. Managed Services cover training costs and you never have to worry about jumping on the bandwagon for IT experts.
Scaling networks require significant coordination, manpower, and new equipment. This is a significant expense for any business and often distracts the IT team from other important functions such as security. Managed services help you expand or upgrade systems as needed without having to hire and train staff you may not need later.
MSPs help your business maintain resource flexibility and adapt to rapid changes that an in-house team may not be able to respond to effectively.
Minimize Downtime
Managed services can minimize your network downtime System attacks can also take your network, data, and internet service. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Up to two-thirds of attacks target small businesses, and small businesses have the fewest defenses to minimize downtime in the event of a cyber attack.
Mitigating the risk of downtime is a multifaceted task that an in-house team may not have the bandwidth or experience to handle effectively. Managed services can reduce downtime costs by preventing them in the first place.
Preventive Approach
When something breaks, you fix it. However, with networks and data, repair costs can strain your company’s budget. Depending on the size of your business, the cost of a security breach can reach millions of dollars.
Rather than rushing to call in experts after a disaster, it’s wiser to be proactive by working with a managed service provider. They monitor your systems for problems and can fix problems before they become a complete disaster. The savings associated with this approach are one of the main reasons to use managed services.
Professional Expert
Hiring an IT team is expensive and time-consuming, and you won’t know for sure how good they are until they run into a major network problem. Some may successfully pass the exam. Others may not resolve the issue in time or at all, costing your business money you can’t afford to waste.
Even if your IT staff is competent and comfortable with your systems, when you add them, you may find that they are not properly equipped to operate or maintain new equipment and systems. The most common problem is that even the best-trained staff lack the knowledge and experience of a large MSP team.
Managed service providers can provide specialized services to fill any gaps in your team’s expertise. It doesn’t make sense for an employee to learn completely new skills for a one-time project. An MSP gives you access to a team of experts with specific skills that you wouldn’t otherwise have.
Narrow Business Focus
If your internal team is busy helping users solve basic problems or deal with hardware malfunctions, they don’t have time or focus on the projects that drive your business forward.
Managed services can help redesign workflows, upgrade devices, and automate certain operations. This relieves the day-to-day processes of your team so they can focus on innovation.
Data Compliance
A managed service provider handles the complexities of compliance and auditing so you don’t have to worry about a data security breach. They can also produce reports and conduct audits that show your organization is meeting all the requirements. This can save your team thousands of hours in the long run.
Latest Technology
Technology itself is one of the highest costs of IT. Devices should always be updated and it can be difficult to distinguish which ones are right for your business. Few things are more frustrating than investing in new network infrastructure only to find that it doesn’t meet your needs or that your team doesn’t know how to use it properly.
One of the biggest benefits of using managed services is constant access to up-to-date technology. You never have to worry about outdated systems or an investment that doesn’t work. The cost of system upgrades is rolled directly into your MSP fee.
Partnering with the right managed services provider can give clock monitoring of your system and business.
