It’s hard to think of a business that hasn’t benefited from the digital revolution. And with a growing number of businesses across every sector discovering the host of advantages that technology has in store for them, investing in IT services becomes mandatory!
That being said, new technologies come with their set of challenges, and these challenges further add up to expenses. Keeping pace with technology can be quite exasperating for business owners, whose prime objective should only be running their business successfully.
A strategic method to improve operations is to outsource your day-to-day IT tasks instead of hiring in-house employees. Managed IT services providers can prove to be invaluable and indispensable to your business with the multiple benefits they offer. Read on for 9 reasons you need to use managed IT services in 2018.
Cost Savings
The first and foremost reason to opt for managed IT services is, undoubtedly, cost savings. Consider this: hiring just one full-time qualified IT employee can be expensive. And you’ll probably have to hire more individuals because you can’t possibly expect one person to come with numerous specialized skill sets!
On the contrary, by outsourcing to a service provider, you get to have a team of IT professionals working for you at a reasonable cost. Also, you only pay for services received or according to your purchased plan. In addition to curbing manpower costs, you don’t have to deal with infrastructure and administrative expenses either. Lastly, you can forego training costs with managed IT services!
Budgeting
Computers and servers can crash any time and for any reason, making it difficult to budget technology related expenses. Unplanned and urgent repair services can bust budgets, and if you’re a small or medium-sized business owner already struggling with finances, you can’t afford to deal with this extra stress.
Enter managed IT services! With a fixed monthly cost, service providers can help businesses create budgets and prepare for upgrades and fixes. Some providers will also build repair charges into the contract along with costs related to ongoing maintenance.
Convenience
IT services might require you to make a huge upfront investment, even if you don’t go for state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology. Managed IT services providers already have a setup up and running, and all you need to do is just subscribe to their services for a monthly or annual fee. In exchange, you gain access to the latest hardware and software. If you’re a small to mid-sized company, you’ll also get to apply technologies you wouldn’t gain access to otherwise.
Bear in mind that planning, researching, purchasing, and installing can take weeks if you take the DIY route. And you could end up spending significant time on these processes because technology becomes outdated all too soon!
Round the Clock Support
When you’re providing round the clock services to your clients, issues and problems can arise at any time of the day or night! With managed IT services, you not only get 24/7 support, but you also get to avail uninterrupted monitoring and proactive maintenance.
This is invaluable because the quicker issues are identified, the quicker they are solved. Since this also prevents problems from escalating, you don’t have to deal with downtime. Most importantly, patches and updates are scheduled with proper planning and notifications such that end users don’t face disruption during working hours.
Dedicated Staff
Managed IT services providers have a team of individuals working for you, so your business won’t be affected if anyone in the team is on leave. What’s more, all team members are dedicated to handling IT duties! This is better than hiring a person in-house and getting them to split their time between different activities.
On the plus side, having a team of individuals working for you means your network receives day-to-day maintenance and upkeep. Because everyday tasks are achieved effortlessly, there are fewer emergencies needing immediate attention.
Qualified Professionals
With managed IT services, you have trained and certified professionals at your disposal. These specialists have the knowledge and expertise needed to understand your requirements and work accordingly.
While you can hire a qualified professional in-house, it’s likely that they will lead an isolated existence. Note that certified doesn’t equal experienced, and your employee might not have had the chance to deal with certain issues. As any managed IT services Northeast Ohio provider will tell you, experience in handling varied queries and problems is as important as being qualified for professionals in this field.
Broad Range of Knowledge
Having access to a broad knowledge base is one of the key benefits of hiring managed IT services. Apart from being experienced to deal with all sorts of issues, service providers can also advise clients on or undertake various projects.
Furthermore, working with a good managed IT services provider will mean you won’t have to deal with multiple vendors for your different needs. Instead of opting for a provider that supports just one or two major platforms, hiring one that offers seamless integration and support for all operating systems will be advantageous in the long run.
Customized Solutions
Managed IT services providers evaluate your IT systems, tools, and processes, and come up with customized solutions to suit your needs. Solutions are implemented using proven tools, processes, and procedures, keeping your budget in mind.
Service providers combine different technologies to support your organization’s unique workload and performance requirements. The best providers are usually accommodating and can give you scalable solutions that can adapt to your company’s changing needs over time.
Enhanced Security
Managed IT services can protect you with direct security measures like managed anti-virus, firewall monitoring and management, anti-malware, and anti-spam solutions. While all of these are the norm and expected by businesses, remote management is better as it helps you stay up to date. Service providers run software updates, patches, and upgrades on schedule, thereby heading off security attacks that can target any vulnerabilities.
Finally, managed IT services have your data backed up too. Offerings include scheduled backups, reporting, and testing to ensure data is recoverable.
Conclusion
As a business owner, it can be tough to concentrate on running your business or accelerating growth when you have a bunch of other things on your mind. Don’t let technology stop you from scaling heights; you now know that managed IT services can be beneficial to your business in innumerable ways!
So quit worrying about the challenges your company faces. Opt for managed IT services, and let your service provider take care of everything!