Why Should You Opt For Managed IT Services?

Statista reports that the global managed services market size may cross the $350 billion by 2025. From SMEs to large enterprises, many companies are outsourcing managed IT services to enhance their business operations and boost productivity.

Why is it so? Why use managed IT services?

Businesses these days encounter a slew of issues in their operations for which spend a significant amount of time and resources in their IT department. This eventually leads to a cut-down in the profit for the company. To avoid IT complexity, businesses hire a managed service provider to handle their day-to-day operations.

What is a Managed Service Provider?

A Managed Service Provider or MSP is an organization that has been sourced to manage a company’s IT infrastructure or perform certain IT-related tasks. They take accountability for your IT operations and ensure a smooth workflow. They tend to work on various projects such as cloud computing, enterprise networks, end-user support, and cybersecurity.

Why should you hire a Managed IT services provider?

In today’s post, we have put forward five key points that explain why it’s ideal to outsource managed IT services.

Read: In-house vs Outsourcing: Pros and Cons Explained

1. High Expertise

MSPs have a team of highly skilled technical people who are the best in the business and keep a strict focus on the latest technologies that could benefit their client’s business. The technical experts come across a multitude of challenges in a business environment across industry verticals and hence possess in-depth experience that can be arduous for the in-house team to match.  

Additionally, a company offering managed IT services could be working for similar industries focusing on the same business niche as yours, so they would have got a better idea and understanding of the common challenges faced along with their solutions. Also, MSPs share a strong relationship with equipment and software providers and thus have early access to the assets that won’t be readily available for individual organizations.

2. Proactive Support

In-house teams are required to quickly address the issues to restore productivity. On the other hand, MSPs provide proactive support, which means instead of your in-house team focusing constantly on fixing problems, MSPs will try identifying issues even before they have occurred and prevent them from happening, thus enhancing your system functions by minimizing errors. This helps to keep your employees’ focus on their tasks rather than waiting for the helpdesk. MSPs also help you plan for the future and offer advice on what strategies need to be made from an IT department perspective. For instance, what sort of IT systems do you require in a year or two. Besides, well-established MSPs offer 24x7x365 support that can be quite a challenging task for an in-house team.

3. Scale-up Your Business

Managed IT Services Providers allow you to focus on your core competencies and not be concerned about your IT operations. They offer you peace of mind by taking complete control or responsibility of your IT functions. As a result, you do not need to spend your valuable time combating system failures, technical issues, or even train your team to handle IT operations. Managed IT Services Providers ensure all the technical requirements are met and your business runs smoothly, by constantly pushing it with the latest technology advancements. They assess your business objectives and try to bridge the gap using technology or solutions that could enhance productivity and help you achieve your business goals.

4. Reduces Risk

There are certain risks associated with a business. Technology, government regulations, market, etc. keeps changing. But an outsourced MSP manages the associated risks and is much better at figuring out the risks involved in its areas of expertise.

Do you have an updated firewall or a DMZ installed? Do you audit your servers or have executed PCI security standards? These things are important to avoid any sort of risk. By outsourcing qualified IT managed services providers, who for instance are well aware of the PCI compliance standards, you need not worry about the risk factors linked to it. The outsourced provider will reduce the risk involved with client data or any sensitive information.

When you outsource a managed IT services provider, you get to know about the team’s collective experience, specific qualifications, industry knowledge, certifications, and much more. Moreover, various dedicated resources are available to you with the continued support of highly experienced technical expertise. By allowing the specialized experts to handle your critical functions, you or your team may succeed in thwarting costly errors and downtime which is a major concern.

5. Cost-Effective

Large MSPs have set standards that enable them to keep your IT operations running at a lower cost when compared to the overall cost involved in an in-house team. With MSPs, your expenses are more predictable since it involves a fixed amount that needs to be paid monthly or annually. This also includes maintenance and repair charges. The budget can drain quickly in the case of in-house teams as the expenses are frequent and unexpected, and the fixes can cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars. You also save on the training cost. Many companies have reported that by avoiding the need for additional staff costs and outsourcing an MSP firm, they experienced significant cost savings in their IT budget. By saving on cost, you can utilize that amount for new initiatives. Managed IT services providers follow an efficient approach; they have KPIs associated with your IT efficiency that helps to minimize the related concerns.

Final Thoughts

Technology is accelerating at a rapid pace. That being said, businesses often look to outsource companies that have the required skill set and expertise to match with the technology trends.

If IT is not your specialization and you are finding it difficult to manage your IT infrastructure, it is strongly suggested to outsource a Managed Service Provider and let them handle your IT operations. Make sure the one you hire has the expertise, proven track record, and resources to manage your business requirements. Check for references before getting indulged in a contract. Ask if they have the experience of dealing with an organization similar to yours.

Initially, assess your total IT cost to get an understanding of how much you are spending on your IT infrastructure. Evaluate the downtime and other challenging areas, then move on to pick the potential company. Apart from cost, check how capable they are to improve your IT efficiency, productivity, downtime, or any other concerns that you have in your mind.