Who’s managing your IT infrastructure? Are you completely satisfied with their performance? Business owners like you turn to managed service providers (MSPs) for a number of reasons. There are no hard rules. You might lack an in-house IT team, want to access new technologies, or wish to take a more proactive approach to IT problems.
There’s a misconception that businesses relinquish all control to MSPs, who then “take over” your IT and make decisions for your organization. This is not true. Think of managed IT services as an offering of a variety of up-to-date IT solutions that you can choose from according to your business needs. You still have control over what happens with your IT, but you are supported by a team of IT experts. Here are a five common reasons that businesses turn to MSPs:
1. Enhance Security
Security is one of the primary reasons enterprises partner with MSPs. Cybercrime is an enormous problem—data breaches cost the average U.S. company $8.19 million in 2019—and business owners like you are desperate for security solutions.
MSPs are security experts, practiced in fighting cyber crime and shielding your company’s most valuable asset— its data. These IT professionals safeguard your systems, troubleshoot security incidents, onboard employees in your IT systems, and essentially manage all of your unique security needs.
2. Improve Uptime
MSPs keep your IT infrastructure and networks up and running. Research shows that downtime—when computer systems, servers, and networks are unavailable—has a detrimental effect on your overall productivity, performance, and profitability.
The average cost of downtime? Around $5,600 per minute. That’s $336,000 for a full hour or about $8 million for a full day. It’s a cost that no business can afford.
How Do MSPs Help?
MSPs improve uptime reliability by:
- Optimizing IT processes
- Improving connectivity
- Providing infrastructure support
- Implementing a business continuity plan so operations continue in the event of an outage
3. Save Money
Your in-house IT employee might not be the most expensive addition to your payroll, but scaling your IT is seriously expensive. Salaries for cybersecurity professionals in the U.S. range from $65,000-$130,000 per year, with a median annual salary of around $92,000. Multiply that number by three or four if you assemble a small in-house team.
Using managed IT services makes better financial sense for most businesses because they end up costing less than in-house IT teams. Plus, you won’t have to worry about health insurance, benefits, taxes, or social distancing-compliant desk space.
4. Tap Into Cloud Solutions
One of the best things about partnering with an MSP is access to the latest tools and technologies to power your team, such as cloud solutions for data storage, data recovery, and collaboration. A reliable MSP will help you find custom private and hybrid cloud services based on your budget and business requirements.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, migrating to the cloud can be a truly terrible experience full of security and privacy issues that disrupt workflows. Allowing an MSP to do all the hard work for you will save you time and money. Let professionals install and integrate solutions that make cloud implementation a success for your organization.
5. Free Up Staff
No business owner wants overworked, stressed out staff members. By delegating IT tasks to an MSP, you will free up resources for your hardworking team.Your existing team members can concentrate on other business-critical tasks and grow your business without trying to troubleshoot technology.
These are just a few reasons businesses turn to MSPs to enhance their operations. When you invest in a reputable MSP like AxiaTP, you too can enhance security, improve uptime, save money, tap into cloud solutions, free up staff, and more. Click here to learn more about what AxiaTP can do for your business.
