It can be challenging for businesses to handle their IT needs alongside day-to-day operations. Today, many business managers outsource that workload to managed service providers. Here’s why you should too.
Key Takeaways:
- Outsourcing your IT services frees up time to focus on your business
- A managed service provider is more cost-efficient than many managers realize
- You can rely on your managed service provider to keep security up to date
Technology has transformed the workplace, making businesses more efficient and productive. Unfortunately, it can be hard for even the most diligent CTO to keep up with the pace of change, especially in a growing business. When companies do try to shoulder the load with in-house IT, they quickly realize it’s expensive and much more work.
Aside from the workload, there’s also the time to think about. Your IT team is busy enough and managing new IT infrastructure or cloud implementations takes time.
That’s why many businesses outsource their IT needs to a managed service provider (MSP). MSPs have dedicated teams who ensure top-notch services and maintain a high level of expertise so you can focus on growing your business.
If you’re still on the fence, here are eight benefits of outsourcing your IT requirements through managed services to help you decide.
1. Keeps you competitive
Every industry has its giants. These companies dominate their industries with top-of-the-line technology and large teams, making it impossible for small and medium-scale businesses to keep up.
However, these underdogs can leverage MSPs to close the IT gap between themselves and large-scale companies. Of course, you won’t overtake these giant companies through MSPs, but you can offer quality services to your customers and streamline your business processes.
2. It’s cost-effective
Outsourcing your IT needs to managed service providers is often more cost-effective and less demanding than maintaining an in-house team – especially when you consider the internal resources that go into building, managing, and maintaining that type of team.
With an in-house team, you’ll have to hire people, train them, and purchase the infrastructure you need for your business. But that’s not the end, many of these expenses are ongoing, and you may not get your money’s worth since the workload is varied and you can’t run training for every skill you need.
When you hire a managed service provider with a dedicated team of experts for the job, you save money for other operational needs and get excellent service.
Moreover, MSPs use subscription-based payment models for their services. Here, businesses know how much they’re paying and can tell if the payment is within the budget. This model prevents cost overruns and makes sure you know what you’re paying every month.
3. Gives you room to scale
You’re most likely expecting to scale your business in the future. Unfortunately, scaling up comes with the demand for more IT infrastructure, a larger IT team, and more costs.
Hiring a managed service provider affords you that space to scale your business. They already have the large team, infrastructure, and experts to handle any future problems.
You also get a standby team to call any time you have technical issues. That’s one thing you’ll want to count on as your business grows.
4. Helps you focus on your business management
If there’s one thing every business manager wants, it’s time to focus on running and growing their business. It isn’t easy to run your IT operations alongside the day-to-day of your business.
Truthfully, many business managers can’t share their attention between IT services and operational processes; there’s just not enough to go around. Handing the IT operations to a network management service, for instance, clears up that load.
5. Ensures compliance
Many industries have codes and rules that govern the operations of their businesses. It’s safe to say that most business managers don’t know all these rules and can easily fall out of compliance if they manage IT services themselves.
Beyond industry requirements, most insurance companies want their business customers to be compliant with current best practices. You may not be able to get essential coverages without proving that your IT is set up and protected the right way.
The fastest way to get into compliance is usually to work with an MSP that has extensive experience in IT security. They allow your internal team to skip the load of covering every rule that comes with IT regulations because they already know them. MSPs work in the IT domain and have in-depth knowledge of the compliance regulations to follow.
Furthermore, top MSPs devise strategies that allow businesses to work within the compliance regulations of their niche. This way, you don’t fall short and pay unforeseen fines that would pull your business back.
6. Exploit expert minds
An in-house team can probably tackle the problems affecting your business’s day-to-day running. But what happens when they encounter a problem new to your niche? Not so appealing anymore.
On the other hand, a managed service provider has experts who are very experienced in their jobs. These experts have most likely encountered your problem before and know what to do when it arises.
They’re proven technicians and can think on their feet no matter what problems present themselves.
7. Top-of-the-line technology
Most MSPs come with top-notch technology to help streamline your operations. With an in-house team, you’d need to push funds into acquiring these technologies.
There’s also the constant new projects to meet ever-changing technological needs. Hiring a managed service provider guarantees you have the resources to incorporate new technologies into your business with half the hassle.
8. Enhanced security
Any business running operations online is exposed to security risks from hackers, phishers, and more. That’s why you can’t shrug off cyber security.
Managed service providers have in-house cybersecurity experts trained to secure your system against hackers and other bad actors. In addition, they can shore up your defenses with new security solutions and keep everything up-to-date against the latest threats.
Choose an end-to-end managed service provider
It’s best to choose a complete end-to-end IT management service like iVenture to optimize your IT experience. Beyond the typical features MSPs offer, iVenture has top-notch security offerings to safeguard your business information.
The excellent onsite and remote support team also helps you solve problems at the source. If you want that all-in-one service from a Florida-based managed service provider, you don’t need to look beyond iVenture.
