Managed IT Services: Is It Time For A Secure Alternative?

Technology has made businesses more competitive than before. This is because businesses have moved to a digital realm where they can connect to customers, place and respond to orders, and even communicate with stakeholders from one place. While the benefits of technology are many, it can also be challenging for small businesses to keep up with the ever-changing trends. Therefore, they can be disadvantaged.

Also, setting, installing, and maintaining all the digital tools businesses rely on can be overwhelming for them. And once a service fails, the business will have to deal with a much bigger problem. For these reasons, businesses have generally opted to look for managed information technology (IT) services. Fortunately, companies don’t need sophisticated technological infrastructure to run a business.

Managed IT services are outsourced IT services. This is where a business offloads all its IT solutions to a different company that would offer round-the-clock monitoring and management. The managed services are automated, secure alternatives to in-store equipment, and every business will need it. Here are several reasons that show it’s time to adopt managed IT services.

One challenge facing small businesses during their digital transformation is proper tech support. First, you’ll need to have the proper infrastructure to support your IT needs and hire the right team. However, not all businesses can afford that and therefore miss the full potential of technology in business.

In contrast, a managed service provider has the team and tools your business needs. Therefore, you only have to pay them to use their services, and in return, you get what you need. Also, the professionals in the company are experts in the field, and they’ll offer you more support than your IT team. These factors combined with the 24-hour support means you get full tech support. (1)

Purchasing an IT infrastructure that will cover all your business needs can be expensive and stretch your budget, especially if your business isn’t established. Also, hiring an IT team will mean spending too much money on labour costs. As a business, you should look for ways to cut operational costs as much as possible to maximise revenue. The best way to do this is by looking into managed IT services. (2)

Seeking managed IT services means cutting down on expenses you would’ve incurred in purchasing the tools or hiring a team. Also, most of them have subscription plans that can be scaled to suit your business needs at different times. Hence, the plans are affordable. The services will help you avoid spending money on licenses, insurance, and training. (2)

Unless you’re also providing managed IT services, your core business isn’t your IT system. But still, your business will depend on your IT system, which means you won’t assume it or let it move down the priority list. Worrying about the increased workload and how your IT system will handle it can easily make you forget about the core business, and you’ll lose much of your revenue. (2)

However, when you let professionals handle your IT services, you won’t have to worry about it. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your cybersecurity, backup, and workflow solutions are handled. This will allow you to concentrate on running the business and generating profits. (2)

No business can afford downtime, which is a period when operations are stopping, and therefore revenue generation also stops. But while you work towards avoiding downtime, you can’t prevent it from happening, primarily if you depend on in-store software and hardware solutions to run your business. For example, if a server crashes or data are lost, it would take a lot of time and money to bring them up again. (3)

On the other hand, using managed IT services reduces the risks of such cases. They offer round-the-clock monitoring, which means the potential risks are identified early enough and mitigated before they become major. They also have enough experts to resolve any problem that may cause downtime as soon as possible. (3)

The changing nature of business strategies and technologies would mean your business will exploit an opportunity or work on a new project. However, the project may be too complex for your team to plan and implement successfully. But with managed IT services, the experts will help you successfully implement the project and even train your in-house team on how to run it. (4)

Your business will need managed IT services at one point in its cycle. When the workload is too much, you risk overworking your team and eventually reducing their productivity. Also, you may not afford the proper infrastructure to cater to your business needs. Therefore, outsourcing your IT needs may be the best way to do so.

References

1. “Pros and Cons of an IT Managed Service Provider for a Small Business,” Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5115-managed-services.html
2. “6 Best Benefits of Managed IT Services and Support,” Source: http://www.techcrushes.com/6-best-benefits-of-managed-it-services-and-support/
3. “10 Surprising Ways Managed IT Services Can Improve Your Business,” Source: https://databerry.com/news/10-surprising-ways-managed-it-services-can-improve-your-business/
4. “3 signs your business needs co-managed IT services,” Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/technology/2018/08/3-signs-your-business-needs-co-managed-it-services.html