Isn't It Time You Let the Experts Manage Your IT?

The Challenge of Managing Networks

Of course, it is possible for companies to manage their own networks – sometimes even cost-effectively. Even so, there are opportunity costs from devoting resources into internal maintenance of a service that you could outsource (and thereby freeing budget to focus on more revenue-generating IT initiatives). Here are only a few common challenges of network management done in-house.

• Reducing network overhead costs while increasing network services
• Supporting dynamic business growth with restricted budgets and staffing levels
• Needing to respond quickly to time-to-market demands
• Implementing new technologies to maintain competitiveness
• Supporting new business operations and markets or integrating acquisition
• Managing, maintaining, and upgrading network infrastructure and management systems
• Delivering high-quality, high-availability network services to meet 24-hour demand
• If your office has voice over IP, ensuring that voice traffic and call quality have sufficient priority
• Securing data, transactions, and communications to keep up with the latest security threats, as well as meeting privacy and security regulations
• Delivering services to more remote offices and workers
• Finding, recruiting, and retaining certified network professionals
• Helping staff stay current with new technologies and skills

What Is included in Outsourced IT Support?

Common elements included in a managed network services partnership include:

• Day-to-day help desk support
• Data Recovery
• Backup
• Network Management and security
  • Network security is a constantly shifting target as hacker techniques evolve and are countered. Companies that don’t have enough resources to dedicate to network security are even more at risk of a security breach (or breaches).
• Email security
  • Block spam, phishing scams, malware, and other inappropriate email content before it can get inside of your network.
• Reporting
  • Detailed reporting allows you to see the applications and personnel taking up the majority of your network resources. Monitoring also provides insight into traffic bottlenecks and peak periods so that you can add more capacity when needed and prevent your employees from becoming frustrated. 
    
    

The MSP Business Advantage

Yes, you’ll save money by moving from a break/fix model of addressing your IT infrastructure to a managed IT services arrangement. But there are advantages beyond simply saving money:

• Predictable budgeting – one set fee for services
• Access to leading network technologies and management expertise, without high capital expenditures or ongoing investments in upgrades, IT staffing, and maintenance resources
• One point of contact for vendor management simplifies trying to identify who is responsible for issues and vendor management
• Proactive management of the network allows preventative maintenance of equipment as well as immediate notification of fault
• Free your internal IT staff from network support so they can focus on strategic projects
• Service level agreements (SLAs) guarantee predictable response and resolution times for network problems and establish what is and isn’t covered in the relationship