by Ray Miner
Network It Easy is an IMA member…
Beyond the obvious cost savings of outsourcing IT support to a Managed Service Provider (MSP), there are a number of really significant, but hidden, benefits for small and medium sized business owners who use them. Among these benefits are:
Timely Responsiveness: Quality MSP’s initially responds to requests for assistance within 15 minutes. Any business owner that has waited hours for their part-time “IT Guy” to finish his real job and return their call knows how important responsiveness is.
Proactive, Remote Monitoring: If you have never used an MSP, it might surprise you to learn that remote monitoring tools are utilized to automatically and immediately notify them of most critical system issues. In many cases, this happens before you even know a problem exists.
Automated Problem Resolution: In conjunction with monitoring, most MSP’s also utilize tools that automatically resolve many issues without any manual intervention.
Automated Patching: Often overlooked and undervalued, keeping software patched and protected is one of the most important ways to protect a business’ critical data. Utilizing an automated patching solution, MSP’s keep their clients protected from known software issues and protected from outside intruders.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: To most small and medium sized businesses, having their primary server “crash” is a disaster. In those situations, simply having file back-ups is no longer sufficient. MSP’s provide a full disaster recovery and business continuity solution that can restore functionality of your data network within minutes.
Technology Planning: Avoid waking up one morning to discover that all your computer hardware and software is obsolete and no longer supported by the manufacturer. Professional MSP’s include annual technology planning as a part of their service offering.
Awareness of Technology Updates: When faced with a decision between supporting their network and learning new technologies, in-house resources must keep the network running. MSP’s continuously keep abreast of new technologies and adapt their service offering to include them.
With a combination of advanced tools and deep pool of technical resources, a quality MSP can provide so much more value to your business than simply reducing costs.
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