Working with a Managed Service Provider may be the best decision a business looking to become more technologically advanced could make.
Nowadays, business is largely defined by technology. This means that businesses that are successful are ones who implement technology in a sensible and cost effective way – but it is not always easy for a business to do this on their own. This is why many organisations now choose to work with a managed service provider, or MSP. We spoke to a London-based MSP called TechQuarters – their experience ranges from providing IT support for Legal Firms, to helping businesses with full digital transformations. We asked them why working with a managed service provider is such a worthwhile decision for businesses, and these are the reasons they gave.
- Minimize Downtime
One of the most common reasons that businesses work with a managed service provider is the fact that they can help them minimize downtime. Not only do MSPs offer high quality IT support services, but they can implement additional measures like 24/7 monitoring. They might even recommend new technologies to increase the efficiency and consistency of certain processes.
- They Can Work with In-house Teams
A managed service provider does not need to replace a business’ current in-house IT department. In fact, many MSPs offer arrangements where they work with in-house teams, acting like an extension of the clients IT department – this effectively scales up the business’ IT capabilities, allows them retain trusted personnel, and does all this in a cost-effective way.
- Access Specialist Expertise
There is a common misconception that managed services is an interchangeable term with IT support services. For example, while TechQuarters does provide IT support Central London businesses rely on, it is not exclusively what they do. What separates an MSP from an IT support provider is that with an MSP, a business can get unrestricted, ad-hoc access to IT specialists. For example, if a business needed to consult with a cloud architect, they should be able to do so by contacting their MSP.
- Steamline IT Budgets
There are a number of reasons why working with an MSP can help businesses streamline their budgets considerably. Firstly, for businesses looking to scale their IT operations, working with an MSP means they do not need to go through the costly process of hiring and training staff. Additionally, MSPs and their clients typically agree on a service level agreement (SLA) that ensures that the client never has any unexpected costs – this is also an opportunity for clients to set boundaries on what they will pay (in exchange for boundaries on the service).
- Lots of Scalability
A managed service provider is an ideal partner for business when they need to scale their organisation in various ways. For example, if they grow in size, their SLA can easily be scaled to reflect the changes. Additionally, if an organisation’s sector undergoes certain changes, an MSP can help the business adjust to those changes, potentially even helping implement or scale technologies to help with this.
- Get Help Integrating New Tech
A managed service provider is the ideal partner for a business to have when they want to integrate new technologies into their organisation. The most common example of this is cloud services. As a Microsoft Office 365 consultancy specialist, TechQuarters has helped many business integrate the solution into their organisation; they also have much experience with cloud migrations to Microsoft Azure. Nowadays, most MSPs specialise in one of top cloud service providers – whether it be Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, etc. – and they say are the people to turn to for the latest tech recommendations and support.