First, what is an MSP?
A managed service provider (MSP) is a third-party company that manages an organization’s information technology (IT) infrastructure and end-user systems. Businesses of all sizes hire MSPs to perform a defined set of day-to-day IT management services. These services may include network and infrastructure management, security, monitoring and more.
How do you know if an MSP could be right for your organization?
Today many IT teams can’t manage it all and are stretched beyond capacity, reacting to issues vs proactively moving the business forward. In fact, a 2023 IT Development & Outlook survey by JetRockets found that 39% of IT leaders feel burnt out or that they don’t have the resources and support needed to do their job.
Your IT Team may have the same issues, and may be challenged to focus on the key IT initiatives that will have the biggest impact in moving your company forward.
An MSP can help with this by managing the company’s IT infrastructure, security and more. This can free up internal IT teams to focus on key business applications and areas such as HR Systems, customer-facing applications, Customer Relationship Management software, and others.
By finding the right blend of MSP services customized to your company and supplementing your IT team’s efforts, you can streamline your IT operations and deliver greater value to your organization.
You want to work with a technology partner who takes the time to understand your needs and provides solutions to help achieve your business objectives. Look for a partner who doesn’t offer cookie-cutter solutions, but tailors solutions to the client’s business needs.
What can an MSP do for you?
An MSP will allow you to focus more on larger-scale business applications instead of just day-to-day infrastructure and maintenance tasks. Here are seven specific ways an MSP can do that:
- Expertise and Specialized Knowledge: An MSP provides a team of specialized professionals with deep expertise in a range of IT areas. They stay up-to-date with the latest technologies, industry best practices, and security standards. MSPs are much more than order takers, and they allow your internal IT team to tap into a broad skill set and gain insights and recommendations. They can be consultative and offer a range of diverse services versus just implementing tasks you request.
- Proactively Monitor and Support: An MSP can monitor the company’s IT systems for performance issues, security threats, and potential downtime 24/7/365. Potential issues can be detected and resolved before they impact the business.
- Improve Infrastructure Management: An MSP can manage and maintain your IT infrastructure, including servers, networks, storage, and security. This relieves your internal IT team of routine infrastructure tasks so they can dedicate more time and resources to higher IT priorities.
- Add Scalability and Flexibility: MSPs have the expertise and resources to quickly scale IT infrastructure up or down based on business needs such as new business applications or growth initiatives. The internal IT team can then focus on integrating and optimizing those applications.
- Provide Enhanced Security: Robust security measures, such as firewall management, intrusion detection, data encryption, and vulnerability assessments. With the MSP handling security concerns, the internal IT team can focus on ensuring that business applications are secure and compliant with regulations.
- Streamline IT Operations: The internal IT team can streamline their operations and focus on strategic initiatives that directly impact the business, allocate more time and resources to developing and enhancing business applications, driving innovation, and aligning IT with the company’s goals and objectives. Partnering with an MSP will ensure your IT infrastructure is optimally maintained and secure, while your IT team can focus on critical business applications. An MSP can also be a great partner to help you improve IT efforts across the organization.
- Provide a unique perspective with custom solutions: You’ll want to look for an MSP that is flexible with their solutions based on your specific IT needs. A co-managed approach lets you blend the unique talents of your team with the MSP to get the best outcomes for your business.
Ready to learn more?
If you have questions or want to learn more about MSPs, read our blog post Managing the maze of IT services, visit Managed IT Services or get in touch with us for a no-obligation consultation.