With companies spending an average of $4 trillion a year on tech services, it's daunting to decide the wisest way to spend money. It turns out that for many businesses, managed I.T. services can give them everything they need with little investment. Here's everything you need to know about how this model works:
What To Expect From Managed I.T. Services
Managed I.T. services have been growing in recent years as companies scale up their businesses with third-party contractors. The business of maintaining your I.T. infrastructure is the day-to-day job of your staff.
Maintaining is a full-time job and it's not possible to do the work of upgrading a legacy system while putting all the normal fires out. On top of that, there's a great deal of training that your I.T. staff might need before they're able to administrate the new system, let alone install or replace anything.
Managed I.T. services include the best of both. Not only will your system be set up by trained professionals, but you can have the day-to-day coverage of the network handled by third-party providers. Your core network, telephone center, and data center can all be handled by managed I.T. services.
With the help of a Managed Service Provider, you'll have some accountability when it comes to your technology and service. They allow the use of technology to subscribers for a fee that only costs as much as is relative to the needs of a business.
Why You Need Managed I.T. Services
There's no single solution that's going to work for every business out there. However, there are some clear-cut solutions that are necessary to compete in the contemporary business world. Managed I.T. providers can help data centers, call centers, or companies looking for a business VoIP software solution.
Staffing Costs
One of the most expensive costs of running a business is paying for staff. Staffing costs determine how companies expand, where they're located, and how they branch out.
When thinking about hiring the most costly staff members, specialized I.T. teams are going to be one of the most costly endeavors. If you already have I.T. staff, you know that you pay for the technical skills that they've spent years learning and perfecting.
Instead of hiring more, managed I.T. services allow you to skip the search, recruiting, and onboarding of scarce and talented staff. You get people who are trained to work with the latest tools without having to find them yourself. They'll be ready to install up-to-date systems without any training from you.
The Cost of Hardware
Unless you inherited your system, you're aware that a massive chunk of your budget could be eaten up by new hardware. Tech architecture is expensive to buy and set up, without even considering the costs of maintenance.
With managed I.T., you'll have the latest hardware maintained to perform at its highest efficiency without having to own a thing. The managed I.T. staff will set up data centers and server farms, install new hardware, and run performance checks regularly. If you're worried about things becoming obsolete in a year or two, leave it to them for this to happen.
Increasing Specialization
If you go back 30 years ago, you'll see that hiring a "computer programmer" was a kind of general specialty. I.T. professionals needed to know about one or two systems to set things in motion for the biggest enterprises on the planet.
Now, there's an increased specialization among I.T. staff. You can't still hire one person to build, manage, and troubleshoot your tech problems for an entire company. You need a team, each with their own specialty.
If you're looking to expand your I.T. infrastructure, you're going to need to staff up and find expensive, specialized, unique staff members. Why not leave that work to managed I.T. services? They'll have someone dedicated to each aspect of your I.T. needs - from the data center to a security specialist, or managing data and software storage.
Common Managed Service Concerns
Managed service providers are there to offer affordability and convenience to businesses. They're also there to ensure that businesses continue to run smoothly. To maximize profits and reduce their own spending, MSPs have made choices that are of concern to consumers.
Rigid Programs
If a business offers a one-size-fits-all solution to every kind of business, small companies will be paying for services they'll never use. With rigid specifications within those programs, it may be hard for knowledgeable but small companies to get MSPs to set up what they need.
Flexibility is vital when searching for an MSP. Companies turn to us for unique reasons and specified needs. It's important for MSPs to listen to that.
Weak Customer Support and Service
While no two MSPs are the same, there are plenty of customers who dread having to call their providers. That shouldn't be the case, whether you're a tech professional who knows your uptime from your downtime or you're a small business just selling to customers online.
Managed I.T. services can automate their customer service and many do. That's not the case with all I.T. service providers and it's something that we take seriously at Next I.T.
Managed Services Ensure Smooth Data Transfer
Whether you're transferring communications data or storing data for customers on servers, you want to avoid being the next big company to have your data stolen. Managed I.T. services make certain that your data security infrastructure is up-to-date and appropriate for your industry. Rather than worry about nuts and bolts of running a data center, managed I.T. services ensure you can do the work that's most important to you.
To protect your business, check out our guide to the latest ransomware attacks you need to know about.