Technology is central to modern business operations, but few businesses have the expertise to harness it fully. Managing networks and other technology requires ongoing maintenance, repairs and stringent security solutions.

A managed services provider (MSP) can help your business fill these gaps. By utilizing MSP services, you can ensure that your IT systems are always up and running.

Cost-Effectiveness

The cost of hiring an in-house IT team is prohibitive for many small businesses. Additionally, it’s not always easy to predict the need for new IT infrastructure or manpower as your business grows.

Managed IT Services provide predictable operating expenses through fixed monthly rates, so you can plan and budget for upcoming expenses. For example, your MSP can build in the costs of upcoming hardware refreshes, upgrades and repairs into your service contract.

Your MSP also offers security solutions that keep your business safe from the ever-changing threat landscape and protect your sensitive information. Using these proactive defense measures prevents issues from happening in the first place, and you’ll have peace of mind that your network is protected.

It also frees up your internal IT team to focus on broader business challenges and strategic big picture thinking. Instead of monitoring and managing information technologies, they’ll be able to help your employees use the tools they need to perform their jobs more efficiently.

Scalability

Scalability is a characteristic that describes the capacity of a software system, network, business or organization to handle increased demand. When a business expands, it needs to be able to scale up its systems and resources to meet increased demands and maintain the quality of its products or services.

The ability to adapt to change is important in a variety of industries, including financial markets and the corporate world. Businesses that can scale up their systems and processes quickly and cost-effectively are more competitive in these arenas, as they can adjust to incoming changes, market trends or new competitors faster.

Often, it’s not enough to simply add more servers or CPUs. Rather, engineers need to implement team processes and tech tools that can handle the extra data.

Senior Software Engineer Topher Lamey at StackHawk said they make sure their CI/CD pipeline can handle multiple changesets and triage problems to keep developers productive. At Fluid Truck Share, scalability is an integral part of their microservices architecture. And CTO Bernard Kowalski at home insurance marketplace Young Alfred says scalability is a marriage of tech tools and team processes.

Security

With the rise of cyber threats, organizations need more than ever to protect their technology. A business’s infrastructure is critical to its success, and a data breach could cost millions of dollars in damages.

Managing your network and systems is a complex task, which takes a lot of coordination and resources. A managed IT provider can handle the day-to-day maintenance of your systems and reduce costs associated with repairs.

Managed IT Services offer security solutions that can help businesses prevent cyber attacks and system failures. These protections can reduce downtime and cut the costs of responding to a security incident.

The expertise of a managed IT service provider can also help businesses stay compliant with data regulations. This is especially important for financial service companies that work with customers’ sensitive information on a daily basis.

Flexibility

Managed IT Services provide businesses with the ability to monitor their systems and network remotely, ensuring uptime and performance. Moreover, they provide services on a subscription-based model, meaning that clients can scale their IT support as needed.

In addition, they can help businesses avoid costly capital expenditures on technology. This enables SMBs to focus on growth and other key business goals.

Having a skilled team of experts dedicated to each function of IT means that MSPs can keep your company’s IT infrastructure up to date and relevant. They also have the resources to resolve problems quickly.

MSPs can deliver a range of IT managed services that include network monitoring, security, virtualization and disaster recovery. They can also offer help desk, mobile device management, software as a service and platform as a service.