How Can a Managed Service Provider Help my Business?

Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, and the question about using a Managed Service Provider (MSP) to support your IT infrastructure changes with the needs of your business. Managed services, like the type we provide at IT For Business, can be very helpful for organisations looking to save time and resources by outsourcing their IT needs. 

Even though technology is becoming an integral part of both large and small organisations, the idea of having a dedicated ‘IT Department’ is often overlooked, especially in small businesses. However, when your employees are working to a tight deadline and the network goes down, not having dedicated IT professionals on hand to fix it can prove to be extremely costly. 

With a MSP, your ‘IT Department’ may not sit in your basement, but they are always available for phone calls, emails, and onsite visits. They can monitor and optimise your whole network remotely, making sure you and your team are always connected, work-ready and have superior cyber security awareness. 

Using a MSP frees up business owners and managers to focus on growing their business, rather than spending precious time troubleshooting network and computer issues. Delegating IT management to your MSP means your team always has access to solutions like helpdesks, backup and disaster recovery, software as a service, and device management, all without the hassle of having to organise and maintain them yourself.

But MSPs can do more than just tech troubleshooting. They also constantly monitor your network for any risks and manage cybersecurity, ensuring all your key systems keep running smoothly. The best part is that you can customise which services you would like your MSP to handle. From carrying out an IT audit to assess your businesses software and hardware needs, to taking helpdesk calls whenever you and your staff need help, an MSP provides much more flexibility and control in how your business operates in a technologically driven world. 

Other benefits of switching your IT services to an MSP include:

• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
  One enormous benefit of using an experienced MSP is their ability create and implement Business Continuity plans (BCPs) and disaster recovery plans (DRP) on your behalf, making sure any affected systems can be quickly restored in the event of a crisis. Having your servers backed up offsite means even if a flood destroyed every computer and server in your office, you wouldn’t lose any of the important work you need for the business to survive. 

• Expertise
  While many offices might just rely on one particularly savvy employee to solve their IT issues, their skill set might be a little narrow. They could have plenty of experience fixing your Excel spreadsheets or reconnecting your email, but if the network switch providing internet to every workstation in the office suddenly goes offline, the office computer whiz can end up a little out of their depth. Your MSP, on the other hand, will have a diverse team of highly skilled IT professionals with years of experience and knowledge in a vast array of technologies. That means they can usually fix IT issues a lot more quickly and efficiently without distracting your employees from their day-to-day work. 

Obviously, MSPs are not a one-size-fits all solution. But for many small and medium-sized businesses, they can be a very effective and reliable way to manage IT infrastructure, bringing specialised skills and knowledge that your business may not have.  

A lot of businesses are reaping the benefits of switching to MSPs, and if you’re considering making the switch yourself, contact us and let’s have a conversation about your business IT needs.