Your small business is growing faster than ever, and with growth comes increased demands for specific departments of your company, such as managed IT services.
Have you ever heard of managed IT services, or are you unsure if your business can benefit from them?
Managed IT Services is a group of services that a Managed Service Provider (MSP) or third-party provides to businesses in information technology.
These services include:
- Remote monitoring
- Technical support
- Training
- Security
- Virus protection
- Data backup & recovery
- Business continuity
- Technology road mapping & planning
- Virtual CIO (vCIO)
- Helpdesk
- Application and database development
- Network management
- Compliance
- Hosting
As you and your employees become busier, you’ll probably have less time to devote to managing your IT infrastructure. And trust us, neglecting your company’s technology is never a good idea.
We’ve put together some important reasons why managed IT services help the growth of your small business and how these services are vital in accomplishing your ever-growing list of business goals.
Managed IT Services and Business Growth
Budgeting
Buying IT from multiple service providers, such as network services from one provider and backup from another, means that budgeting is going to be volatile.
Besides, if you are going to need capital to grow, why not be nimble and outsource to a Managed IT services provider so you can get the best talent at a fraction of the cost?
If your server needs to be replaced, you will have to pay for it and devote IT resources to setting it up.
If your network needs to be repaired, you either pay your IT guy to come in, or you pull one of your internal resources to spend their precious time fixing the issue.
Managed IT services budgeting is simple – you pay for the service with a flat monthly fee. So when your server breaks or goes down, your managed IT services partner repairs it.
Pricing and cost is an important factor in your company’s budget. Learn more about the costs associated with managed IT services by reading our blog, Managed IT Services and Features: Is The Price Right?
Expertise
It’s probably no surprise to you that IT expertise is challenging to find and hard to staff adequately. Not only that, but the costs that come with staffing an entire IT department is quite costly, too.
A jack of all trades IT guy might be good at a few different things, but will most likely lack in-depth knowledge in crucial areas (security, for example). If you need additional expertise, you'll have to pay a premium for it.
Managed IT services are large enough to hire experts in a variety of IT areas and that knowledge is at your disposal as needed.
Availability
Even the most dedicated IT staff needs a vacation or sick day every now and then. Plus, they also sleep at times (no matter how many Red Bulls they might drink). Can you afford for your IT department time off during periods of growth?
With that being said, 24/7 monitoring of your technology servers, and office machines are out of reach for SMBs.
Some managed IT service providers are fully staffed 24 hours per day for all 365 days of the year that will answer your calls in two rings or less.
Read more about an IT help desk here, 5 Benefits of an Outsourced Help Desk.
Vulnerability and Documentation
With limited staffing, IT processes aren't often fully documented. This leaves your business vulnerable to no one understanding the issues of your network.
A great managed IT services company documents every single task and issue that is that has t do with your company’s technology infrastructure.
From the set up of a new router to ensuring your phone systems are working in all of your offices, every process is fully documented for you to always go back and reference.
Time to Resolution
Time to resolution goes hand-in-hand with availability and remote 24/7 monitoring. What happens when an issue occurs outside of business hours?
It can take quite a while to realize there’s an issue in the first place, leaving your business “out of order” until your technology department can learn of the problem, asses it, and then begin resolving it.
It’s also important to consider that even though your technology department might know of the issue, doesn’t mean they’ll be able to fix it. They might have to call for an outside source to fix the issue for you, causing you money and time.
With managed IT services, you don’t have to worry about this. In most cases, a managed IT services provider can assess your IT problems (and resolve them) before you’re even made aware of them. How nice is that?
Recurring Issues
Do you ever feel like your IT needs are only being met because your staff is simply putting a band-aid over the problem? Many times, your IT staff will fix a recurring issue, but not have the time or expertise to identify and eliminate the root cause.
In most cases, fixing the same issue over and over again doesn’t mean the issue is actually being fixed. It’s just a temporary solution to hold you over until the problem comes up again, or even worse, a new problem surfaces.
Not only is this ineffective, but it wastes a lot of time from not just your IT department staff, but you and your employees time as well.
With standard equipment, expertise, and monitoring, you managed IT services partners focus on eliminating and preventing recurring issues from the second they happen.
The goal should always be to prevent the issues from happening in the first place and to prevent any issues from occurring a second time around.
Security
It’s 2018, and cybersecurity should always be at the very top of your list when it comes to protecting your company, employees, and your network.
A managed IT services team is here to keep your business safe and protected from outside hackers and scams to ensure all of your important and confidential business documents aren’t at risk.
Managed IT services allow constant monitoring and real-time alerts as well as proactive management of patches.
Learn more about cybersecurity and the risks of not being protected by reading an article published by Security Today, Why Cybersecurity Has Never Been More Important.
The Final Say: Managed IT Services and SMB Growth
If you can’t tell by now, managed IT services can help your business out in more ways than one, as well as taking the stress from you when it comes to ensuring your business is growing and advancing in the best ways possible. A managed IT services team is not just a provider, they are your business partner.
AIS is a technology company devoted to keeping up with the latest and greatest technology products and trends to better assist our current, prospective, and future customers. We’re not just a business technology solutions company, we’re your technology partner and strive to provide you with new and helpful data to further the success of your company and your individualized business goals. If you’re interested in expanding your knowledge, reach out to one of our technology consultants. We’re here to provide you with peace of mind to help you win more business.
