Outsource Your IT Support
When it comes to running any kind of business, information technology is the glue that keeps your company together. It lets you coordinate your teams, store data, move it around at lightning speeds, and, overall, it allows your business to function day by day.
This is why so many businesses put so much effort into establishing a good IT support team that will keep the cogs turning. However, smaller businesses often have a problem with establishing said teams in-house.
To create an IT support team, you have to vet and hire professionals familiar with the necessary technology your business is using and the inner workings of the company itself.
On top of that, many small businesses don’t think too far ahead and rely predominantly on reactionary thinking, which leads to many systems and technologies being put in place that clash constantly. Needless to say, this hurts the overall productivity of the whole company and has the IT staff running around the clock, trying to untangle a Gordian knot of haphazardly installed systems.
Yet, there is a solution for your IT woes – IT outsourcing. In this article, we’ll go over some of the things a Managed Services Provider can do for you, as well as some of the stronger arguments for letting them take over your daily IT needs.
What Can Outsourcing Do for You?
Device Inventory Management
One of the basic services an MSP provides is device inventory management.
Without taking care of your hardware, you cannot run an efficient organization. An MSP will lend their expertise and make sure all of your devices are working as intended so that your business can run its operations smoothly day in and day out.
Server and Network Management
In order to facilitate communication between the various elements of your company, you need a stable and functioning network. Just as well, you also need servers on which to store your data.
If you decide to outsource your IT support, an MSP will take full responsibility for taking care of your network and servers, making sure everything runs properly, and making sure your network is secure from outside threats.
Cloud Management
SaaS and cloud computing are becoming increasingly popular due to their low cost and high scalability. Due to these benefits, many businesses are setting up their cloud apps and storage as a way of cutting costs and increasing operational efficiency.
However, to run a cloud storage service or a SaaS, you still require a bit of IT expertise.
Most MSPs are very well acquainted with the technology and know-how necessary to operate these elements, so outsourcing IT for businesses becomes a very viable and attractive choice in continuing the trend of cutting costs.
Disaster Recovery
While high cyber-security standards are often more than enough of a deterrent to keep cyber thieves at bay, you must prepare yourself for a contingency in case a breach does happen. The same thing goes for hardware/software malfunctions; both of these things can severely hamper your company’s ability to operate.
Disaster recovery, then, becomes a real concern, and being unprepared can cost you a lot. That is why businesses often rely on the professionalism of MSPs to monitor their IT operations and react in case a disaster strikes.
Security and Surveillance
Speaking of cyber theft, most companies will put great emphasis on protecting their data. A data breach will not only hurt the company, but it will also hurt their clients and customers, and that’s a nightmare scenario for any business.
Luckily, most MSPs are experts at security and surveillance, and they will make sure your data is protected at all times. In addition, they’ll also monitor and test your network for any potential leaks and backdoors while also keeping an eye on the newest and latest ways a potential cyberthief can breach your network and work hard to create viable counters for such an attack.
Onboarding/Offboarding
Hiring a new employee isn’t just about taking a person and plopping them behind a desk – they also need proper clearances and access to data that will help them perform their daily tasks.
Similarly, when offboarding an employee, you also need to make sure they no longer have said access due to security concerns. Both of these require proper IT systems in place to facilitate effortless onboarding/offboarding.
Fortunately, this also falls into the scope of an MSP’s duties, so you can be sure that your needs will be satisfied in that regard as well if you actually decide to outsource your IT support.
24/7 Support
Finally, one of the leading reasons why businesses like to outsource their IT support is the round-the-clock support most MSPs provide.
Problems can and will occur at the most inopportune moments, during the lifetime of your company, and a hacker won’t wait until Monday to steal your data.
Once a problem occurs, you’ll have to deal with it now, and most MSPs will have a help desk open around the clock to help guide and advise you on any issues that may arise during your daily operations, as well as during times of crisis.
Benefits of Outsourcing
As you’ve seen, a Managed Services Provider can do a lot of things and perform a wide range of duties for your company. But, better yet, such versatility also comes with a plethora of benefits that you’ll certainly enjoy if you decide to outsource your IT support. Here are some.
Better Focus
Without worrying about IT support, you and your employees will be able to focus better on your and their daily tasks.
One of the biggest advantages of outsourcing your IT support is that you can double down on the elements of your business that will ensure its growth while being fully confident that your MSP has got your back and that they’ll ensure that all your efforts are supported with properly set up and maintained hardware and software.
Expertise
Another benefit of hiring an MSP is that you’re hiring a team of experts to handle your affairs.
This benefit is, in fact, one of the strongest arguments for outsourcing IT support. Creating your own team within your own company can be a bit of a struggle, as you have to find employees with proper credentials and then bring them up to speed on what kind of technology you’re using and what systems you have in place.
All this takes time and effort, and if you don’t have veteran IT personnel in the first place who can do the vetting, you’ll also have to spend time finding somebody who can do it.
By hiring an MSP, you are immediately presented with their portfolio, as well as recommendations and references proving the expertise of their staff and the overall professionalism and dedication of their firm.
Access to Technology
In order to stay competitive, many MSPs will invest heavily in acquiring the latest technology and learning the newest methodologies that will help them run their business.
This means that wherever you look, you’ll find MSPs with some of the most advanced IT tech already incorporated into their service, which will cost you a fair bit of money to acquire and set up for yourself.
Lowering Operational Costs
Speaking of costs, outsourcing your IT support has proven time and time again that it generates far fewer costs than running an in-house team.
This makes outsourcing perfect for small and medium businesses that are still looking to grow and expand.
At this point, their needs are not as extensive, and the expertise offered by a professional third-party MSP can be a great leg-up for those businesses, as they can focus more on growth rather than having to tech- and employee-up to keep their operations afloat.
Reliability
One of the best things about MSPs is that they’re extremely reliable when it comes to providing their services.
As we said before, these people are professionals, and, as professionals, they have standards that they need to maintain to stay competitive in their market niche. That’s why most MSPs put a huge emphasis on providing reliable services for their clients.
On top of that, we already said that these companies usually run 24/7 help desks for their clients. This means that you can rely on your MSP to come to your aid whenever you have a problem that requires an immediate or speedy solution.
Predictability
Finally, something needs to be said about the predictability of using an MSP’s services.
Most of these firms operate on a subscription-based service model. This means that you always get what you pay for, no more, no less.
This further means that you can always reliably predict what your IT costs will be. This makes budgeting a whole lot easier, and you can then reliably direct your funds where they’re needed most, knowing that your IT support is always covered.
Final Words
As we said at the beginning, a business needs its IT department to function properly day-to-day. Without an IT department, you are open to cyberattacks, network issues, data leaks, poor communication, and a host of other problems that will impair the operation of your business.
Fortunately, managed service providers are there to alleviate all these problems. With the many angles they cover with their services, as well as the benefits they bring to the table, a company would need to have very strong reasons not to outsource their IT support.
Author bio:
Tomas is a digital marketing specialist and a freelance blogger. His work is focusing on new web tech trends and digital voice distribution across different channels.
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