Date Published June 3, 2021 - Last Updated July 26, 2021
According to Gartner, 56% of businesses now engage IT outsourcing services for the long-term development and maintenance of their infrastructure and overall security posture. Digital business infrastructure operations are now a core component of the global IT managed services market, and is estimated to contribute as much as 63% of the total workload by 2023.
There are plenty of reasons for the rising popularity of managed services. Even with changing requirements for your growing business, finding the right MSP can help make costs predictable, increase competitiveness and efficiency, and provide scalability. Managed services are a boon for small to medium businesses that can't afford large-scale in-house support of MNCs. This often makes them an easy mark for hackers and an assortment of malicious actors. Managed services providers can help small businesses step up and implement industry standard defenses against attacks; they also can improve overall reliability, running costs, and flexibility of their infrastructure.
Moreover, a dedicated managed IT services provider is incentivized to go above and beyond the call of duty to improve your infrastructure over time. It’s in their best interests of long-term engagement to minimize problems and maximize efficiency and productivity for your organization, as their KPIs are directly linked to the operational excellence of your IT.
Here’s why:
More cost-effective
Managed IT services always prove to be more cost-effective than hiring permanent staff in the long run. Even without the cost of human resources, managing your IT services can be highly resource-intensive, especially for companies just starting out. Moreover, the demand for technical competence in IT only accrues over time, leaving even seasoned companies to turn to managed IT services just to keep IT costs manageable.
Increased efficiency and reliability of IT operations
If your IT team is overworked, or you are suffering from a lack of knowledgeable IT personnel with the right skill sets for your unique IT challenges, you won’t be able to drive the infrastructure outcomes you want. This guarantees you access to the best in industry technology trends and innovative business solutions for your particular niche.
Implement a more proactive approach to IT
By engaging the services of a managed IT services provider, you can make guaranteed inroads in 24/7 IT monitoring and coverage, improved threat assessment and security posture, predictive maintenance, and on-demand support for all your workers and customers at any time of day or night. This proactive approach ensures all your cloud services, mission-critical applications, mobile devices, and other networks remain up-to-date on security patches, maintenance, and more for years on end.
Maximize uptime
Uptime is no longer negotiable for businesses trying to stay afloat in a fiercely competitive market space. Losses in uptime equates to direct losses in productivity, lost revenue, and loss in availability of services to your customers.
Improved scalability
With managed IT services, scaling can practically be on demand as your business grows and adapts to changing market conditions. Pay-as-you-go plans can give you the flexibility to scale your business with the demands of the season, and scale back down whenever required.
Simplified remote work arrangements with centralized management
It’s a given that centralized management of your infrastructure can result in significant cost savings, while ensuring uniformity of experience across devices and geographical location. You can now empower your employees to have the same uniform experience with speed and security, irrespective of whether they work in the main office, a satellite office, from home or via on-site locations.
Security improvement and data protection
If you work with client data, it’s paramount for the reputation of your business to ensure its integrity and security. It’s the only way your business partners will trust you in the long-term. So having an unimpeachable record in IT security bodes well for your business both in the short and long terms. With managed IT services, the onus for ensuring your security falls on the service provider who guarantees the protection of your data and adherence to complex, ever-changing regulations and compliance requirements.
Obviously, IT outsourcing isn’t the right solution for every situation, but it does offer the possibility of a tool that can stretch your infrastructure and capabilities.
Chris Forte is the President and CEO of Olmec Systems, provides specialist managed IT Services New Jersey, NY & GA area. Chris has been in the MSP work-space for the past 25 years. He earned his Master’s Degree from West Virginia University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. In his spare time, Chris enjoys traveling with his family.