Modern businesses are more reliant on IT than ever before, but the vast majority of small and medium businesses don’t have the advanced skills in-house needed to manage their IT infrastructure.
This is where managed IT services come in.
What are managed IT services?
Managed IT services (provided by Managed Service Providers, aka MSPs) are a one-stop-shop for all your business technology needs, including:
• Hardware supply and configuration to the desk
• Network infrastructure services
• Cybersecurity and data protection
• Compliance
• Data backup
• Disaster recovery & business continuity
• Cloud services adoption
• 24/7/365 Network monitoring and management
• Expert technical support with full remote access for speed of resolution
• Professional technical account management
• IT Consulting
• Technical Project Management
• Internet connectivity (broadband, leased lines, MPLS, and more)
• VoIP telephony (often saving considerable costs over traditional PBX systems)
Businesses are increasingly turning to MSPs to provide them with managed IT services, here’s why.
7 benefits of managed IT services
1. IT managed for you
One of the biggest benefits of managed IT services, particularly for small business owners, is that it’s managed for you, i.e. the MSP will look after all your IT needs so that you can get on with your regular responsibilities in the workplace. By outsourcing your IT responsibilities to a dedicated provider, your internal business operations can be more focused, productive, and profitable.
2. Future-proof IT for business
In a world where IT is changing and developing so rapidly, MSPs have more resources to devote to your business, keeping you appraised of valuable emerging technologies.
MSP team members are not only experts but individuals who are genuinely interested in and excited about all things IT meaning they can keep you at the forefront of the latest changes and challenges in the industry.
With the huge and rapid advancements in technology, you also need to ensure that anyone looking after your IT continues to advance their skills and knowledge at the same rate – something that MSPs continuously stay on top of, but is much harder to do if you’re managing your own IT alongside your regular responsibilities.
Having managed IT services means your business will always have an IT infrastructure that is fit for purpose both now and in the future.
3. Proactive IT protection
With managed IT services, your provider will be proactively taking actions to protect your IT systems and maintain optimum performance. This reduces the risk of a major IT disruption or issue such as a data breach or network outage that can be incredibly stressful, time-consuming, and (in the most severe cases) costly for business owners.
4. Better uptime
With proactive protection and prevention activities taking place, you’re much more likely to experience better uptime when using a MSP compared to looking after your network connectivity by yourself.
Any company providing managed IT services will also have a backup in place in the event that your connection goes down so that you can continue to run your business operations as normal while they investigate and fix the original issue.
5. Cost-effective IT support
While it can feel daunting for many SMEs to commit to an ongoing managed IT service cost, in the long run you’ll find that it’s significantly more cost-effective.
Since your managed IT team will work to prevent issues from occurring in the first place, you won’t have to spend money on fixing major IT issues retroactively. And when larger issues do occur, it will be covered by your fixed monthly fee so that you don’t have to worry about unexpected IT fees, allowing you to utilize your budget on internal resources more effectively.
With fewer disruptions and better uptime, your business will also be able to maintain productivity resulting in higher profits.
6. Secure & compliant IT infrastructure
Data security and compliance is a highly complex, ever-changing area that can only ever be successfully managed by an expert professional. Alongside a deep understanding of the most up-to-date legislation, managed IT providers have knowledge of the best practices, common pitfalls, and latest cybercrime data that they can use to ensure your business is kept safe from hackers and compliant with the relevant requirements.
7. Experts in advanced IT
Unless you’re a trained IT professional, you’re unlikely to be able to address all the issues that arise around business technology.
While you may know how to install the hardware you need at your desk, do you know how to protect your systems from cybercrime?
By signing up for managed IT services, you’ll have a whole team of specialists in each area ready to support your business with even the most complex and advanced IT challenges from hardware management to disaster recovery. They provide you with all the advanced technical expertise, that only enterprise businesses can afford to have in-house.
Technology is one of the most expensive investments you’ll make for your business, so it’s worth ensuring you’ve got the right resources in place to protect, maintain, and support it.
The effects of poorly managed IT can be detrimental to your business – MSPs like Better IT are here to help you avoid these.
Interested in managed IT services for your business? Book a call with our team to discuss your needs and business requirements.
