At the end of last year we talked about what it means to partner with a Managed Service Provider (MSP), and now we’d like to talk about the top ways in which an MSP can make life easier for your enterprise. Without further ado, here are our top 8 benefits of working with an MSP:
1. MSPs have a wide pool of Expertise.
You may already have an IT team, or an individual who managed all your IT needs. But however superb they are, they are still just one department within your organisation – and this presents a number of potential problems. An MSP on the other hand, is an organisation of technology experts with a diverse, and importantly, an up-to-date knowledge of technology.
An organisation with in-house IT may be more likely to settle into a specific way of doing things. While this may have been the tried-and-true way for your organisation for a number of years, it could also be ignoring the latest information.
2. MSPs are Cost-effective.
There are a few ways in which an MSP can save you money.
Firstly, by keeping you abreast of the latest technology, you will always be made aware when one of your current solutions becomes outdated and thus no longer cost effective.
Secondly, the diversity of expertise provided by an MSP is something that is largely unattainable for SMEs. A business cannot be expected to employ an expert in every relevant technology field would be a huge drain. With an MSP on the other hand, you pay only for what you use. An MSPs should also be able to offer you services at a fixed monthly fee.
Thirdly, an MSP may also be able to offer you better than average prices on technologies if they are partnered with the vendor.
3. Get guarantees with an SLA
When you partner with an MSP you need not to worry about uncertainty surrounding critical technology failures.
This is because every Managed Service Partnership starts with a Service-level Agreement. Such an agreement is in place to outline how quickly a fault in your technology is detected and how soon after your business processes will be restored to normal functioning order.
Service-level Agreements are also recognised as a contract, and therefore contract law can be considered another layer of assurance for the customer.
4. MSPs take care of Compliance
As an organisation you are bound by certain standards and regulations regarding your technology use – and that applies to all enterprises; even within different industries there will be unique standards and regulations one must adhere to.
An MSP will be familiar with all technology compliance that applies to your business, and it will be their responsibility as your service provider to ensure that your technology is in line with the requirements.
5. Avoid HR Responsibilities
As touched on earlier, SMEs employing their own team of tech experts comes with its share of issues, namely that it is not cost-effective – but also you would be responsible for their annual leave, their sick pay & cover,
When you have the option to relinquish these responsibilities while still enjoying the benefit of specialist technology expertise, it would be inefficient to maintain in-house services.
6. Strategic Planning Support
A large part of an MSP service should be about planning tailored strategies for your business. At TechQuarters, for example, we would assign a Technical Account Manager to you. Your Account Manager will be there to ensure the strategies put in place for your enterprise are on-track – usually by way of an hour-and-a-half business review held every quarter. These reviews are also meant to keep your strategy up to date, so that if your circumstances change, we will change our services to best fit them.
7. Preventative Support
As we said in our previous MSP blog, Managed Services are not about fixing things when they break; but about monitoring your infrastructure and putting tools in place that will eliminate instances of faults in the system.
This mindset is part of how we would develop a customer’s IT strategy – the aim is to prevent all avoidable faults, and in the unlikely case of an unavoidable fault, there will be protocols in place to minimize the effect it has on your business.
8. Get back to your sector
The ultimate benefit of partnering with an MSP is of course that by focusing on what they do best, you get to focus on what you do best. Information technology pervades all businesses across every industry; but it is also its own industry, so why not get the experts to handle it for you?
If you are interested in engaging with an MSP, like TechQuarters, check out our Managed IT Services page or get in contact at the details below!