From tornadoes and floods to security breaches and employee error, unexpected catastrophes can befall any type of business. While you may not be able to prevent or even anticipate disaster, you can be well-prepared before it strikes in order to minimize the impact and downtime. The importance of testing your plans for disaster recovery and business continuity can’t be understated.

Unless you're already in the IT field, small and medium businesses likely don't have all the knowledge or in-house staff required to manage their IT infrastructure themselves. That's where a managed services partner (MSP) comes in.

According to a recent study, 48 percent of small businesses lack a business continuity plan—even though they are most at risk of going under when disaster strikes. While unexpected crises can happen at any moment, their impact can be minimized and mitigated through careful planning.

Kelser Corporation announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Kelser to its 2019 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the MSP Elite 150 category. This annual list recognizes North American solution providers with innovative approaches to managed services. These services help customers improve operational efficiencies, maximize return on IT investments, and continuously help them navigate the complexities of IT solutions.

Managed services providers (MSPs) offer 24/7 support for your entire IT infrastructure: software, hardware, and configurations. These services are remotely monitored and managed in order to keep a pulse on your IT environment at all times.

The “as a service” business model, in which third-party consulting firms provide IT services to customers on a subscription basis, has been nothing short of a revolution. In particular, network as a service (NaaS) has saved many companies from having to build their own networking infrastructure in-house. Configuring and operating devices such as routers, WAN optimizers, and firewalls is no easy task even for IT experts.

As technology relentlessly pushes forward, you and your organization will undoubtedly need to upgrade your hardware. However, you can’t simply forget about your old hardware while reaping the benefits of replacing it with the latest and greatest. You should be excited about the upgrade, but how will you transfer data from your old equipment to the new? How will you erase data from the original hardware?

Software used to be such an adventure. Your company would buy a new program and then essentially be on your own to install it and learn how to use it. It might work out great, or it might be a frustrating fiasco. You bought it—it’s your problem now. Wisely, software companies have largely switched to a software-as-a-service model in which customers pay a recurring fee for use of software that is maintained and supported with customer service. Hardware is undergoing a similar transition with desktop-as-a-service, also known as device-as-a-service, or DaaS. Desktop-as-a-service shifts technology hardware from a capital expense to an operating cost. Rather than buying new computers and other technology in one large, up-front expense and then burdening your IT department with the massive task of setting them all up and maintaining them, a technology partner or managed service provider (MSP) will manage the assets for the entire lifespan.