Companies of all sizes need technology to operate efficiently and effectively. With reliance on IT growing and many small businesses having limited IT resources, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep IT infrastructure up and running.
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What are Managed IT Services
Managed IT services let companies offload specific IT operations to a service provider, or managed service provider (MSP), who assumes responsibility for monitoring and managing IT systems and functions. MSPs act as an extension of an IT department and/or their entire IT department, freeing up internal IT staff to focus on business-critical projects.
It takes time and resources to keep backups, patches, security, and maintenance of your business’s IT infrastructure updated. Relying on IT in your business and not keeping your IT systems up-to-date leaves your business vulnerable to IT outages and security breaches. MSPs proactively monitor and maintain your IT systems, which helps spot and correct any potential IT issues before they even become an issue.
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5 General Benefits of Managed IT Services
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from managed IT services. Below are five general benefits of managed IT services:
#1 Increased Efficiency
Spending time putting out technology fires as they arise keeps employees from doing their jobs, resulting in a loss of productivity. With tools available to MSPs, events causing user problems are automatically and instantly reported and remediation starts immediately.
#2 Reduced Downtime & Risk
The robust tools for performance, fault, and security monitoring as well as remediation available to MSPs allows them to determine that a failure is imminent, allowing them to take action immediately. This prevents the failure from occurring which reduces downtime due to lapses in technology. Planning and scheduling patches and updates after work hours also eliminates disruption to the end user and unnecessary downtime during the workday.
#3 Increased Security
Having up-to-date security protecting your network is essential to fight off attackers who are becoming increasingly sophisticated. MSPs monitor the security of your entire network, including Firewall and Anti-Virus. They also apply the latest updates and patches to make sure your network is as secure as possible.
#4 24/7 Monitoring & Maintenance
MSPs provide 24/7/365 network monitoring to catch and address potential issues - before there is ever an issue. By proactively managing your network, MSPs are able to spot and avoid issues before they become significant problems with downtime.
#5 Better Understanding of IT Infrastructure
Limited time and resources often results in overlooking things that make a significant difference in efficiently managing a company's IT infrastructure. MSPs align your technology plan with your business plan. They are responsible for mitigating risk of your IT environment. Along with developing plans to resolve upcoming hardware end of life and software upgrades, they can also provide lists of hardware and software that are critical to your business. This provides a foundation and understanding for the most important technology critical to your business functions.
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How to Identify if Your Business Can Benefit from Managed IT Services
Most companies are ready for managed services if they fall into one or more of the following categories:
- IT problems keep piling up and the service demands are difficult to keep up with
- Your technology is lagging behind your business growth
- You have slow network performance
- Your IT team doesn’t have the depth and breadth of knowledge to design, implement, and support IT solutions
- IT is viewed as a problem instead of a solution
- You’re worried you may have security vulnerabilities
- IT budgets increase yearly, but the perceived ROI of IT is low
- No strategic IT plans and no defined direction of IT
- You’re unsure of what technology to invest in
A MSP will help solve all the above issues – and more. Along with helping you solve current technology challenges, managed IT service experts will also help you plan for the future and mitigate security risks.