If you’ve never used managed IT services before or you’re considering switching providers, you may have the false impression that they’re all alike.
While many providers have somewhat comparable technical offerings, how they deliver those services is a whole different ballgame.
When it comes to managed services, some managed IT service providers (MSPs) offer cookie-cutter solutions that are meant to cover a broad range of businesses. This blanket approach to managed IT can leave businesses trying to fit the proverbial square peg into a round hole.
With a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach to managed IT services, you run the risk of not being able to quickly respond to market shifts, which could end up costing your business more in the long run.
In this article, we’ll outline the benefits of using a managed IT service provider that offers customizable services and flexible technical support options that can adapt as your business needs change.
With this information, you’ll gain a complete understanding of how flexible managed IT services can boost your IT performance, strengthen your security defenses, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs.
With today’s rapid market changes, many small and medium-sized business owners like you are looking for proactive and dependable managed IT services.
According to recent reports, about 60 percent of organizations are using managed IT for some part of their IT infrastructure needs, including public cloud management.
That trend is growing; the MSP market is expected to see explosive growth, jumping from $281 billion in 2024 to $400 billion over the next five years.
There are many reasons different organizations require scalable and flexible managed IT solutions.
These are just a few of the many factors that might influence a company’s need for agile managed IT services.
Of course, a company’s industry, current IT and business needs, internal resources, and long-term business objectives all play a part in the type of IT support you need.
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Every day can be a new day of opportunity for your business. Yet, you're also sure to face bumps along the way as you work toward your short- and long-term goals.
How prepared are you to face those challenges? Managed IT services can offer a variety of software, hardware, and other resources to help solve your IT pain points, reduce cybersecurity risks, and save you money.
When deciding whether managed IT is right for your business, consider some of the resources you would gain from an MSP partnership:
Besides the services listed above, working with an MSP offers several significant benefits.
For starters, you instantly gain an entire team of IT professionals with extensive experience and broad industry knowledge to provide expert recommendations on the IT solutions that are right for your business.
If you currently have a limited staff of IT professionals, or you don’t have an internal team at all, then managed IT could provide a cost-effective solution.
Managed IT allows you to have access to advanced solutions and IT personnel with specialized skills, rather than having to sink a considerable amount of money into recruiting, hiring, and retaining an IT team of your own—not to mention the extensive technologies you would need to invest in and maintain.
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An MSP can also support your existing internal IT team, working in partnership to ensure that your business continues to run securely and efficiently.
MSPs can implement robust cybersecurity tools, policies, and employee security awareness training, to help safeguard your sensitive data and protect your business from lurking cyber threats.
Another benefit to managed IT is that rather than an inflexible service model that applies across the board, with a customized approach to managed IT, you can pick and choose what you need without being forced to overspend on IT tools and support that you don’t.
For instance, perhaps you already have an in-house IT team to handle your day-to-day technology upkeep, but you’re looking for help with network monitoring, data storage solutions, and threat detection and incident response.
Or, perhaps your business primarily functions on a single shift during regular business hours, so you wouldn’t need a service level agreement (SLA) for 24/7/365 technical support. You can pay for what you need, when you need it with scalable managed support.
Related Article: How Do Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Work In Managed IT Services?
Businesses looking for specialized projects often leverage MSPs to implement cloud or hybrid cloud migrations; data management solutions, or legacy software and hardware upgrades, such as switching to Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system from the Windows 10 OS nearing its end of life, for example.
In addition, managed IT simplifies your IT budgeting, allowing you to split the total cost of your annual managed IT services agreement (MSPA) into 12 predictable monthly payments. This way, you can treat managed IT like any other essential monthly expense, such as a utility bill or payroll service.
Related Article: What Are Common MSP Pay Terms And Billing Practices You Need To Know?
What’s more, according to published reports, using a managed services provider can cut your internal IT expenses by 40 percent, and improve overall efficiency by as much as 50 to 60 percent.
When searching for a managed IT service provider, find out what their SLAs are for technical support response and remediation. MSPs with a standard support level for all clients may not align with your business needs.
Is the provider’s location an important factor to you? You’ll need to determine if your business needs a responsive, local MSP that can offer on-site IT support, or if you’re OK with getting strictly phone or online helpdesk support.
You should also consider whether you want a provider with entirely U.S.-based support or whether your OK with having your helpdesk service requests farmed out to international third-party IT customer support companies.
How flexible is the MSPs technical support? For instance, do they place a cap on the number of helpdesk service requests you’re allowed to make each month or each year?
What if you plan to ramp up your hiring to fill vacancies and create new jobs. Does the provider charge a different rate after a certain number of employee onboardings?
On the flip side, what if you’ve had several departures or you plan to downsize your business, will you be required to continue paying the same rate for services as before the staff reduction?
Either pricing structure could end up significantly increasing your overall managed IT costs.
After reading this article, you now understand how managed services can provide a customized package of comprehensive, advanced IT tools and support with the agility and scalability to adapt to fit your changing needs, rather than the other way around.
We know that managed IT support isn’t the right fit for everyone. That’s why we always encourage you to do your due diligence when researching possible MSP partners.
We write articles like these to provide useful information and insight that assists business leaders like you in making informed IT decisions that can help your business succeed, whether you ultimately choose to work with us or not.
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