Information technology (IT) forms the backbone of many small-to-midsize business (SMBs), enabling faster growth while streamlining everyday tasks. However, creating and managing an IT infrastructure is a complicated and specialized process. Many SMBs lack the resources necessary to build and maintain an IT infrastructure effectively. As a result, many of them are turning away from in-house IT and instead, are opting for Managed IT Services.

Managed IT Services provide businesses with a dedicated IT support solution. Managed IT providers (known as Managed Service Providers, or MSPs) provide businesses with an entire IT infrastructure, from hardware provisioning to ongoing support. MSPs take care of managing, monitoring, and supporting day-to-day IT operations, leaving thebusiness free to focus on its daily tasks.

5 Advantages of Hiring a Managed IT Services Provider

1. Significant Savings

Managed IT Service providers are often more affordable than maintaining an in-house IT department. MSPs usually charge a fixed monthly fee regardless of any special circumstances, failures, or major upgrades that occur in that time period. MSPs also frequently guarantee their services under a Service Level Agreement (SLA), which guarantees certain performance and reliability levels over the course of coverage. Compared to the costs of staffing in-house employees, as well as procuring and maintaining hardware, MSPs work out to be much more cost effective for businesses in the long-run.

2. Around-the-Clock Support

MSPs are staffed by specialists who understand the ins and outs of IT. Using automated monitoring and alerting systems, MSPs can provide 24/7 coverage of a business' network and respond almost immediately to issues. Additionally, MSPs take a proactive approach to support, using historical and real-time data to detect and resolve problems before they can affect your system.

3. State of the Art Security

Security is a top concern for any business. Many of the world's biggest breaches, hacks, and intrusions have been targeted towards a wide range of organizations, from government agencies to mobile phone resellers. It's easy to implement poor security, but it's extremely difficult to do security well. That's why many SMBs prefer their security parameters be provided by MSPs. Reputable MSPs have the knowledge and expertise necessary to secure data your business' data, whether it's in transit across the Internet or at rest on your computers. The result is minimized risk from hacker and data thieve intrusions.

4. Managed Updates

No matter the size of your infrastructure, testing, deploying, and troubleshooting updates can quickly become a full-time task. Delayed updates could leave your computers open to vulnerabilities, while failed updates can cause a disruption in service. MSPs work to keep your systems secure by testing, implementing, and monitoring updates seamlessly and automatically. This ensures that your systems are always up-to-date without impacting your services. As part of their proactive approach to managed IT, MSPs will also help you plan for future capacity or service upgrades to your infrastructure.

5. Improved Uptime

The effects of downtime are becoming increasingly catastrophic to businesses of all sizes. According to a study by IDC, one hour of downtime can cost an SMB anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000. Every year, downtime costs North America $25.6 billion and over 1.6 million hours of lost labor. Despite this, many SMBs still prefer to take a fix-it-when-it-breaks approach and will wait for problems to crop up before addressing them.

MSPs take a proactive approach to downtime by addressing issues before they become problems. Using a combination of risk mitigation and disaster recovery techniques, MSPs work to reduce the chance of a failure while simultaneously reducing the time to recovery. That way, the MSP can quickly bring the SMB back online even in the event of a complete failure.


Moving Forward with Managed IT

Managed IT offers a convenient alternative to staffing your own IT department. It provides your business with the tools it needs to operate in modern markets while leaving you to focus on growth and development. Compared to an internal IT department, consider managed IT as a convenient and cost effective solution.

Want to see if IT Managed Services are right for you? Give us a call at 619-473-5600 or simply contact us and one of our Managed Service experts can help you.