Why you should strongly consider partnering with an MSP

20 Nov

in Blog

Regardless of the size or complexity of your network, at some point you will need some assistance. That’s what managed services brings to your company—the assistance you need at prices you can afford.

Common fears of outsourcing and managed services

Loss of control
Lack of response
Being billed with nickel and dime tactics

While these are rational fears, many times they can be rectified by having an open, honest conversation with the right MSP. A good MSP will insure that you understand your own IT environment and have full transparency into what the MSP is doing for you.

Time to focus on the benefits of MSP

Once an organization overcomes the initial fears of outsourcing, they can begin to focus on the benefits a good MSP will bring to the table.

Choosing to work with an MSP means the following:

Solid, predictable budgeting. Many MSP companies will provide their services at a flat monthly rate. This allows for easy budget management with no surprises. If you find an MSP that does not offer this, I suggest you either work with them to do this (if you enjoy their service), or you find an MSP that can do this for you.
Access to a team. MSP companies are often staffed with multiple tiers of expertise. This allows the client to tap into resources that may not normally be available through a traditional structure. Don’t be afraid to ask your MSP for a bullet list resume of their tech team. While this may seem intrusive to some, an MSP who is proud of their staff will gladly show you why they are.
Lower operating costs. An MSP can provide a team of experts at numbers less than what would normally cost an organization to hire a single individual.
One less thing to worry about. Choosing the right MSP means that is one less thing that an organization needs to deal with. The goal of a good MSP is to let you focus on your core operation, not the infrastructure supporting it.

Moving to operational benefits

After an organization starts to see the financial benefits to working with an MSP, they can then start to look at the operational benefits of the partnership and recognize immediately the added value a good MSP can offer by:

Extending their infrastructure with monitoring and alerting on critical components.
Auditing all systems and establishing a routine for security (aka patch) management.
Backups, backups, backups. A solid backup routine that covers file level restores all the way up to complete bare metal (disaster recovery) restores.
Assisting in the creation of operational standards. A good MSP can help you streamline your business by analyzing processes and showing you where things breakdown.
Instant addition of an entire IT department to your organization.

Final thoughts on partnering with an MSP

At a fraction of the price to hiring full time staff, partnering with an MSP can achieve the same end as adding an entire IT department.

In fact, the right MSP is able to offer even greater capability than an internal IT department because growing a successful IT services company typically requires expertise in a greater number of technologies, manufactures and solutions.

Furthermore, because MSP engineers service multiple client environments, they must be prepared to handle a myriad of problems and scenarios.

“A decent managed service partner is an extension of your business, giving you a more manageable budget, a more powerful infrastructure, and overall peace of mind.”

Reference: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140626145721-23925113-why-use-a-managed-service-provider