Managed services have been growing over the past few years and are not expected to slow down anytime soon. This market is projected to grow to $900B by 2023, i.e. 13% of the IT market in North America according to a recent report by ResearchAndMarkets.com.
So, Why So Many Businesses Are Making The Move?
Whether you’re an executive or an IT professional, working with a managed service provider can make your life easier and free up resources to focus on what’s most important.
When it comes to managing your IT infrastructure, your own IT staff can get bogged down by ‘keeping the lights on’ which leaves little room to focus on innovation and strategic initiatives.
However, if you have your own IT department, you may be wondering how a managed service provider (MSP) can support your team and you might also worry about bringing in an outsider. The truth is that an MSP and your in-house staff can complement each other. Indeed, a reliable managed service provider can take the grunt work off your plate by working alongside your IT team and can bring increased efficiency and security to those commodity tasks. In addition, MSP’s can bring experience and guidance acquired through working across multiple organizations facing similar challenges.
Managed service providers offer several levels of service. You can decide to fully or partially outsource your IT administration depending on your needs and also leverage the MSP to drive efficiencies and help accelerate digital transformation.
As new technology enters the market at unprecedented speed, businesses face different challenges to keep pace and deploy, maintain and secure new solutions/applications, hire the right talents and control their costs.
Managed service providers take a holistic approach to IT services to help achieve your goals. Below are eight reasons why IT departments should consider partnering with an MSP, not dreading them.
Benefits of Partnering With an IT Managed Service Provider
1. Reduce Risk And Enhance Compliance
Every business investment involves some risks related to markets, competition, government regulations, new technologies, etc. An MSP will take this burden off from your IT staff hands thanks to their industry knowledge and experience in minimizing risk and compliance issues by implementing the necessary systems, processes, and monitoring to ensure these requirements are enforced.
2. Receive Proactive Maintenance
When you decide to partner with an IT managed service provider, you receive proactive support in order to help detect issues before they happen or prevent them from worsening and turning into a costly disaster.
3. Bridge the IT Skills Gap
When it comes to topics such as security or cloud technology, businesses struggle to hire enough resources to meet their needs and as technology gets more complex, these skills shortages are going to increase. Working with a managed service provider enables IT departments to fill this gap by accessing a vast pool of experts faster and at a lower overall cost than direct hires.
4. Deploy New Technology Faster
If you are managing your IT operations in-house, it can be challenging to implement and deploy new technology when you have a shortage of resources and competencies. Hiring and training new staff is time-consuming and requires a lot of effort and energy. The advantage of working with a managed service provider is that you will have the IT professionals and subject matter experts you need at your fingertips to help you start your key projects immediately.
5. Improve Cost Effectiveness and Return on Investment
Partnering with a managed service provider will enable your business to improve cost-effectiveness by reducing operational costs, maintain the capital budget and lower IT operating expenses. Most of the MSPs operate with transparent fixed monthly fees allowing businesses to anticipate what is doable within their budget and allocating what has not been consumed to additional services.
6. Boost Productivity
Another key benefit of outsourcing your IT is you can improve your overall business performance. An IT service provider will help you minimize downtime and will perform audits regularly to optimize productivity and ensure business continuity.
7. Focus on Core Business
Putting IT maintenance in the hands of an MSP can help your organization stay focused on business-related activities and innovation. IT departments have limited resources and let a partner handle the daily IT routine will help them focus on high-level transformative projects and innovation without being distracted.
8. Accommodate Rapid Changes
As stated above, technology moves fast and businesses need to scale resources up or down to meet demand. An MSP can help businesses anticipate unforeseen obstacles and provide support to handle growth by scaling their needs both short-term and long-term.
In comparison to traditional IT departments, working with an IT managed service provider enables to better manage costs, encounter fewer issues, fix problems faster and provide a better business environment. In other words, it makes you look like a super star when you meet with your CEO.
If you’re looking for an IT Managed Service Provider, contact Softlanding to discuss your needs, goals, and challenges.
Written By:
Caroline Blivet
As Softlanding's Marketing Lead, Caroline and is responsible for driving lead generation, developing a go-to-market strategy and, delivering marketing campaigns. Outside of work, Caroline enjoys hiking the beautiful trails of British Columbia.
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