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Have you ever heard the term, “managed IT services” and raised an eyebrow in confusion? This term is quickly becoming more well-known in the world of small business because of the enormous benefits that come along with it. So, what are managed services and how can they help your small business? Let’s take a look.
What Are Managed IT Services?
In the simplest terms, Managed IT Services are a set of IT services that are provided to a company, by a third party, on a recurring basis. This third party is typically known as an MSP (Managed Service Provider). These services generally include all the computer support needs your everyday business would require. You can think of them as having your own personal IT support team, except they aren’t physically sitting in your office. When IT problems arise, you can contact them to solve them, and they will even come to your office to fix the problem if need be. However, what truly puts MSP’s in a class on their own, is the fact that they are constantly monitoring your network, proactively solving problems and threats before your organization even realize there was an issue.
Beyond the reasons stated above, here are five additional benefits you get from managed IT services.
Being Proactive Beats Being Reactive
You take your car to the mechanic for regular oil changes and tune ups, so you can lower your chances of waking up one morning to a car that won’t start. Just like you don’t want to ruin your day with a failed car, you don’t want to ruin your business’s productivity with IT that won’t run smoothly.
With managed services, you put your business in a proactive posture against threats instead of a reactive one. Your IT company is able to keep your security software up-to-date, minimizing your risk of falling victim to the latest cyber threats. Your IT company is able to perform updates and patches to your software in the background, so everything continues to run smoothly in the foreground.
This preventative approach can bring about huge boosts in productivity, keeping all your technology running smoothly and in turn keeping your employees happy.
A Standardized IT Environment
Regardless of how proactive you and your IT company are, issues still sometimes arise. When they do, the only thing on your mind is getting them resolved as quickly as possible.
Over time, as you work with your IT company, you’ll build up a standardized environment based on the best practices that align with your business and with the IT security landscape. This standard helps prevent issues before they arise. If a problem manages to penetrate your business, you can resolve the situation faster than if you had to bring in an outside company to start from ground zero.
Automation for Simplification
In today’s world, to automate is human. Automation has reached a pinnacle that allows businesses to accomplish more with fewer resources.
There are tremendous benefits to automating your business by having managed IT services in place. These services can automatically stop threats and resolve issues around the clock. What this means for you is increased access to your company wide systems that are essential to running your business. That, in itself, yields better employee productivity, which is worth its weight in gold.
The Right People at the Right Time
Imagine this: You walk into work one day, fire up your computers, and suddenly nothing works. The programs you use to serve your customers aren’t starting and no matter how many times you restart your computer, you can’t get them to work. You need help from an IT support person. Who do you call?
If you don’t have managed services, this phone call can take hours longer to resolve. Plus the uncertainty of knowing how much it will cost, coupled with the fact your business is at a standstill, can be extremely frustrating to say the least.
If you have a managed services plan with an IT company already, the phone call is an easy one to make. You know who to call, who you can trust with your business intelligence, and who will be able to respond the fastest to help you resolve whatever issue you’re facing. The IT company you’re working with will have the appropriate staffing levels to provide a fast response time to any issues you submit via email or phone. In the end, you get faster, more reliable service, which can pay off because you’re able to get back to work (and making money) faster.
Transparent Pricing
Have you ever dreaded getting an invoice simply because you had no idea what to expect? When you need to call in IT help to put out fires, without taking a proactive approach, it’s impossible to know how much money you’ll end up paying just to get your business back up and running.
With managed services, you pay a flat fee for regular services regardless of where the work is performed (whether it’s onsite or remotely), or when the work is performed (during business hours or after business hours).
Managed Services Means Managed Sanity
As a business owner, you have enough to think about. With managed services supporting your IT infrastructure, you can:
- Reduce the number of IT threats that hit your business by taking a proactive stance
- Create a standardized environment that simplifies prevention and resolution
- Use automation to resolve issues quickly
- Have the appropriate staffing levels on hand to quickly resolve your concerns
- And do all of this at a flat fee
By having an MSP managing your IT services, you can focus on what really matters – growing and managing your business. And that is worth every penny.