If you are a SMB in 2023, technology and IT is without a doubt playing a large role in your day-to-day business operations. Many business turn to MSP (Managed Service Providers) to help relieve some of the technology burden. While outsourcing IT is not a new concept, many of the reasons businesses embrace it are. As organizational processes become more complex, companies are looking for dependable ways to:
Enhance the customer experience with more personalized services
Protect themselves against cyberattacks
Provide flexible employee services today’s talent demands
Safeguard data with secure storage and backup options
While small businesses' technology needs continue to change, MSPs are evolving too. Experienced managed IT service providers are helping clients understand and apply new technologies to solve business goals and IT challenges, improve processes, and streamline operations. While there are many reasons SMBs are engaging with MSPs in 2023, below are 5 of the main reasons and benefits.
Benefit from Predictable IT Costs and Cost Savings
Engaging a Managed IT Services provider can result in significant cost savings for your business in a variety of ways:
Avoid the expense of recruiting, onboarding, and training an internal IT team by outsourcing to an MSP that provides affordable external expertise.
Eliminate the need to hire tech employees and lower overhead costs.
Networks designed with an MSP's expertise can easily scale to accommodate business growth.
Fill critical talent gaps or get assistance with major projects and know that billing is usually on a recurring monthly or per-use fee model, making it easy to adjust services as needed.
Other ways you can save money by partnering with an MSP include:
Reducing the need to invest in new hardware and software.
Your managed IT service provider can suggest tweaks to your existing infrastructure that save time and cut costs.
MSPs bring their experience working with other clients to assist in defining your objectives and providing solutions to your IT problems. They can provide a fresh perspective and help solve challenging IT issues or bottlenecks.
In summary, outsourcing your IT support to a qualified managed service provider can save you substantial costs while providing access to top-notch IT expertise and infrastructure that can help drive business growth. Contact MapleTronics today to learn more about how we can help your business succeed.
Better Protection from Security Threats
In today's business landscape, mitigating security risks and threats to operations has become a top priority. Cyberattacks are not a matter of if, but when they will target a business, and their physical, financial, and reputational impact can be devastating.
While preventing cyberattacks is not always possible, implementing an effective cybersecurity plan can significantly reduce the risk of being hit. However, the majority of SMBs lack the internal resources to handle sophisticated IT threats.
An MSP can provide access to the most advanced cybersecurity tools and help businesses manage these threats to maximize their safeguards. But cybercriminals are not the only security threat. Natural disasters or system malfunctions can result in catastrophic data loss and significant downtime, and it's essential to be able to restore operations quickly.
Unfortunately, many businesses lack a well-defined backup and disaster recovery plan or fail to regularly back up critical data. They may also lack a business continuity plan to recover from a disaster or event that causes business interruption.
By partnering with an MSP, businesses can create and implement a comprehensive plan to manage any data security crisis. Allowing an MSP to manage your infrastructure can also insulate your business from the inherent risks of managing your data center.
Manage Hybrid Workforces
The growth of remote work has been exponential, with the percentage of remote jobs increasing from less than 4% to 9% by the end of 2020 and growing by over 1,000% by the end of 2021. Today, around 16% of companies worldwide operate fully remote, with almost 70% of full-time U.S. employees working remotely during the pandemic, many of whom still do.
It's clear that remote work is not going away anytime soon, with experts predicting that a quarter of all North American professional jobs will remain remote as employee preferences continue to shift. Some companies have adopted a hybrid approach to the workforce, with nearly three-quarters of U.S. companies currently using or planning to implement a permanent hybrid work model, which around 44% of employees prefer.
In this context, partnering with an experienced managed services provider becomes even more important, as an MSP can use cloud computing and other technologies to connect remote and in-house employees, ensuring work performance efficiency and productivity are not compromised. Additionally, MSPs can manage the extra cybersecurity measures required for employees working outside the office and using personal devices.
While employees enjoy the flexibility of working from home or in-person, they also want to remain connected to coworkers. Hiring an MSP can help you manage your hybrid workforce more effectively, ensuring everyone, from the C-suite to the home office, is satisfied.
Lessen Downtime
Downtime can be caused by equipment breakdowns, power outages, computer malfunctions, or any number of other issues, and it can have a serious impact on your business, causing lost productivity and frustrated employees and customers.
Working with a Managed IT Services provider can help reduce the risk of downtime and minimize its effects. An MSP will monitor your network proactively to catch problems before they can cause significant disruptions, and will work quickly to implement backup measures and get your systems up and running again.
In addition to preventing and responding to downtime, your MSP can also help you create a business disaster recovery plan (BCDR) to ensure that your business can resume operations as quickly as possible after a major catastrophe or natural disaster.
Expertise at Your Fingertips
Partnering with a Managed IT Services provider gives your company access to a wealth of industry expertise, specialized skills, and the ability to tackle any IT issue that arises. At MapleTronics, our team of experienced engineers, with years or even decades in their fields of expertise, provides reliable and proactive support with fast response times.
Managed service technicians have a broad range of qualifications in areas where your internal IT team may not specialize. They receive ongoing training and education to stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices. With an MSP, you can trust that your network is in good hands and will continue to run smoothly.
Ready to Benefit from a Partnership with an MSP?
As the business landscape rapidly evolves, change is an inevitable part of the game, and innovation is more critical than ever. To thrive in this environment, businesses must strategically align their initiatives with their existing technology infrastructure. However, this can be a daunting task, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs). Many SMBs are now turning to MSPs for assistance in addressing these challenges by:
Developing a strategic technology roadmap that aligns with their strategic and operational objectives.
Reducing the burden of managing IT functions in-house.
While the connection between managed IT and business growth may not always be apparent, there are significant benefits to outsourcing your tech needs. One of these advantages is that you will have the freedom to create initiatives that can achieve both short- and long-term goals by improving productivity, reliability, and IT security. Additionally, your business will be less likely to experience crises that can halt progress and productivity.
Even if you already have an in-house IT team, partnering with an MSP can enable your staff to focus on tasks other than dealing with constant tech issues. They can collaborate with other departments and take pressure off of your current team to help them get back to their essential job duties.
Ready for more information and to begin seeing the benefits of working with an MSP. Contact MapleTronics and get started today.
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