Generating sales, keeping the accounting books, and operational management are all things many small businesses handle internally. Often, small businesses empower their employees to juggle many of these responsibilities; for example, an office manager that oversees payroll, fixing any IT repairs, and ordering products. While this gives some immediate cost savings for a business, one department where this is a costly approach is IT.
IT departments are the lifeline of a company – they manage over servers and data, run many lines of communication over the internet, and store all client and company information. When IT problems arise for many small businesses, they are forced to react to the problem. This results in loss of revenue, productivity, and valuable data, but that’s where Managed Services can help.
What are managed services? Managed Services allow a company to employ a dedicated IT team for less than the cost of a full-time employee. Remote 24/7 monitoring, real time cyber security, and improvement of network firewalls some of the services that a Managed Services Provider (MSP) supports. Many companies correctly protect their physical business with security camera systems and/or access control devices, but need to protect the lifeline of the organization: the network.
Here are five reasons why your company will flourish and grow using a MSP for your IT needs:
Fixed Cost for Business Planning $$$$
Choosing a Managed Services Provider allows small businesses a way to budget for IT resources. Many companies deal with changing costs when problems come up. Instead, employing managed services gives companies an opportunity to have a fixed, monthly cost. This cost is on a per device basis, meaning you are only charged for the number of computers, working stations, and servers that need protection.
All-inclusive platform: As much as you need
All services are included with a MSP: system updates, active monitoring, and IT support are all part of the security managed services provides. Constant network security checks and cyber protection are built into the service and all network management is handled remotely. Companies use the MSP as much as needed to ensure the network protection. The goal is that proactive protection will reduce the amount of IT support needed over time.
Remote fixes
Remote management is one of the main reasons companies in construction, healthcare, and finance choose a MSP. Issues that arise are fixed remotely and keep business from being down or affected in any way. Also, there is zero to minimal interruption to the business when network threats are deployed. Problems can be found quickly and corrected before they have any significant impact on the business.
Those updates….
Many employees do not complete necessary updates including password changes, patching updates, and antivirus updates. This mismanagement can leave the network vulnerable to cyber threats and leave holes in the security of the network. Companies install antivirus to help with protection but if it is not properly updated, attacks to the network can still occur. The MSP updates the system, antivirus and other areas of the network automatically. Each update is checked out to decide which are needed.
PROACTIVE approach, not reactive
All network systems are watched and checked for vulnerabilities. Managed Services Providers check to make sure backups are running correctly to avoid any downtime should the system go down. All updates and patching are automatically done too, so problems are handled before they happen. Many times, companies wait until there is a problem to reach out to IT companies. This leads to a greater negative impact and higher cost to a business.
Overall, Managed Services are a great way for companies to budget, stay efficient and be proactive against the network threats. It is more cost effective than hiring dedicated IT personnel or reaching out to IT companies after a problem has occurred. This allows companies to focus efforts in other areas and not have IT become a sunken, random cost to the business. When a cyber threat happens, the business will have proactive protection and proper network security measures in place. Also, there is limited to no downtime and no added cost to have someone come out at emergency rates. Managed Services can have a direct impact on the growth and profits for your business.