Business 

Managed IT: What Is It and 10 Reasons You Need It

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Today, managed service providers (MSPs) offer a comprehensive array of computer services to businesses of all sizes and types. Did you know that it’s estimated that 90 percent of Fortune 1000 companies use MSPs to provide a part of their IT infrastructures or services!

Simply put, Managed IT services give a third-party service provider complete, sometimes partial, responsibility for IT support.

Businesses can either live or die by the quality of their IT environment, including hardware, software, networks, internet, and data. It is not unusual to see those companies entirely dependent on their IT network. It would almost certainly feel a huge negative impact on their business if IT encounters a significant issue.

Are you curious about the benefits of Managed IT services? There is no need to look any further. This article will discuss what managed IT is and why your company needs it.

The History of Managed Services

Computer systems evolve and change dramatically every year, and in some cases, month after month.

Regrettably, the tools necessary to support and service an ever-changing information technology ecosystem have lagged. This makes automated and remote support extremely challenging. This is most likely the primary reason businesses hired full-time IT support personnel.

IT support used to be mostly break-fix. But then, there was very little predictive maintenance meaning and practically no automation. As a result, when something went awry, the company contacted a service desk in the hope that an engineer would be available to come and fix the problem.

As time passed, IT support companies began to develop processes and tools to decrease the need for on-site visits. Unfortunately, these same tools began to look for signs of issues before they struck and snowballed into bigger problems. As a result, there is a chance of extended downtime.

With remote IT support becoming more feasible, service providers began to investigate automation to decrease staffing needs. No longer did you have to find out the hard way there was a problem:

  • The system started alerting when something wasn’t as it was supposed to be
  • The technician didn’t have to jump in his car to help
  • The issue could be resolved remotely

With these newly found capabilities, IT firms could begin to provide better-managed services to customers who did not want to hire full-time IT staff.

The Benefits of a Managed IT Service

IT is not the primary focus of many businesses; it’s an enabler, just like telephony is.

Larger companies and corporates with their big budgets and various business units will have dedicated IT personnel to support the business.

Companies can focus on their core business by collaborating with someone whose core business is IT. For example:

  • Real estate
  • Interior decorating
  • Specialized consulting

There are very few types of businesses that cannot benefit from having a Managed IT Service or services. Let’s look over some of the advantages of using a Managed IT Service provider:

1. Free-Up Resources to Focus on Core Business

We all know that business owners would far rather focus on revenue-generating tasks. So, for example, product development spends valuable time fixing IT problems over whatever the core business is.

MSPs are frequently characterized incorrectly as a “threat” to an internal IT person or staff:

  • Relieve internal team of mundane network operations
  • Relieve internal staff of maintenance procedures
  • Relieve internal IT staff of working repetitious monitoring of server and storage infrastructure, and day-to-day operations
  • Relieve internal staff with help-desk duties

The above advantages are but a few. A managed services provider can be an all-encompassing solution or a small part of a business solution.

2. Sharing Risks and Responsibilities

An MSP’s goal is to provide contracted services. As a result, an MSP can genuinely become an irreplaceable catalyst for business growth.

3. Access to Expertise – Best Practices – and World-Class Tools and Technologies

Managed service providers have experience with a variety of businesses and organizations. MSPs can keep your business relevant and on track with continually evolving technology, support, and productivity demands.

Let’s face it; no small or medium-sized business can afford to fall behind with technology trends in today’s business world.

4. A Saving On the Cost of a Full-Time IT Department

Proactive management is the lifeblood of most small business owners. They simply haven’t got the budget, assets, or access to on-demand IT management expertise to be proactive.

An IT company gives business owners and overwhelmed internal IT staff :

  • Affordable server and computer support
  • Critical network component remote monitoring such as servers and firewalls
  • Data backup and disaster recovery
  • Network security
  • Custom software solutions
  • Technology evaluation and planning

All these services at a fraction of the cost help companies direct the saving into other aspects of their business. This is particularly so for smaller businesses with a restricted financial budget.

5. MSP Decreases the Overall IT Support Costs 

MSPs can decrease the overall IT support costs. In fact, it could be by as much as 30% to 50%.

6. Improve Security

In business, we use many devices, including laptops, smartphones, servers, operating systems, tablets, and more. Security is vital because company data is stored on these devices. The service provider assumes responsibility for the management of security issues and risks.

7. Become Compliant

Regulations such as GDPR are complex and not easily understood. Managed IT Servicepartners have the required expertise to ensure your company’s compliance.

8. Keep Up With Technology

An MSP not only assumes leadership roles but also enables risk reduction. As well as that, it also enhances efficiency and changes the culture by introducing internal IT operations to new technologies and processes.

9. Ensure Disaster Recovery

It happens, systems fail. An MSP will bring your business back online smoothly and efficiently. You won’t need to endure long periods of downtime.

10. Strengthen Customer Experience

Partnering with an MSP will allow you to focus on your customer needs. It also lets you focus and hone your services.

Value Is What You Get!

Medium-sized and smaller businesses with smaller budgets take the strain to employ dedicated IT, support staff. It is here where Managed IT services offer tremendous value. 

Employing Managed IT services that include computer network support and IT management offers low-cost services for improving and expanding company operations. In addition, these services assist in freeing up in-house IT teams to concentrate on critical IT strategies and projects.

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