The world is a digital place and companies rely on technology 24/7 to provide top-notch service to customers. With technology constantly in a state of change, it’s often difficult for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to manage all the tools they need to succeed in an extremely competitive online environment.
Many SMBs are finding themselves without the necessary resources and staff to manage every aspect of their IT environment. According to a recent study by iHire, 77% of companies are expected to encounter a talent shortage, which will make it even more difficult for SMBs to manage their IT in-house. That’s why every small business needs managed IT services.
What are Managed IT Services?
Managed IT services are delivered to businesses of all sizes by a managed services provider (MSP) with highly specialized expertise and solutions across complex IT challenge areas – from connectivity to communications to cybersecurity. The MSP assumes the responsibility of managing and monitoring these technologies.
This means IT services are outsourced so in-house IT staff can take care of immediate tasks. Managed IT services help augment an SMBs existing IT staff so they can take care of more pressing and immediate tasks. Furthermore, by leveraging an MSP for managed IT services, SMBs get the specialized technology expertise to manage their IT environment.
Here are five reasons to use managed IT services for your small business.
Reason 1: Save Money
Managed IT services will save your SMB a lot of money over time. Paying an in-house team to deploy and regularly maintain additional services comes at a high cost. When you consider the IT expertise needed to manage today’s technology, in-house specialization often doesn’t make financial sense.
Plus, managing all IT in-house and on-premises means purchasing the necessary equipment and keeping it up to date. With managed IT services, SMBs don’t need to purchase extra equipment to support their IT infrastructure or source specialized talent. An MSP offers managed and cloud-based IT solutions to support your business.
Reason 2: Deploy the Right Solutions
An MSP will recommend a solution set that fits your exact needs. They’re familiar with how small businesses are run and are there to help you operate more efficiently. Businesses across many industries engage with MSPs to take on sourcing, installation and management of a variety of IT-oriented business services, including:
- Cybersecurity
- Network infrastructure
- Cloud communications
- Internet connectivity
Reason 3: Save Time
Managed IT services can help SMBs save time. Even IT personnel that don’t regularly have high volumes of tasks encounter incredibly time-consuming assignments, especially when acting as internal support for company employees. MSPs can help alleviate the burden and free up in-house staff to better support employees.
Selecting an MSP like TPx also eliminates the need for managing multiple vendors. Having experts who facilitate IT management on your behalf means you aren’t constantly searching for IT professionals to solve problems. That leaves SMBs free to take care of other business processes while knowing all IT needs are being met.
Reason 4: Secure Your Business
Security is essential in today’s digital world. A recent survey found that 75 percent of CIOs ranked cybersecurity as their top priority for 2021. While most businesses realize that safeguarding their infrastructure against hackers is paramount, many don’t have the properly resources in place to enable the necessary protection. In fact, the study reported that 70 percent of cybersecurity professionals say their organization is impacted by the cybersecurity skills shortage.
With cyber criminals changing their tactics and creating new threats, general IT staff may find it challenging to identify threats in real-time. Furthermore, SMBs likely don’t have the staffing required to manually remove infected programs if attacked. By leveraging managed IT services, SMBs can better secure their IT infrastructure so that they are not vulnerable to cyberattacks. The right cybersecurity solutions from an MSP will help keep your business secure.
Reason 5: Scale Your IT
Managed IT services provides scale for SMBs. This means, when your SMB grows your IT infrastructure can grow right along with your business. A 2021 report by IDG Communications found that 58 percent of companies struggle to muster sufficient IT resources to scale their work-from-home operations.
With businesses struggling to scale their operations properly, your business could suffer and experience unnecessary growing pains. Scalability is key to the growth of your small business and should be a priority, so you won’t wind up short on technology.
Need more information about managed IT? Check out this managed IT services guide.