Does your business really need managed IT services?

On a sunny Salt Lake City day, you receive an SMS alert about an upcoming doctor’s appointment. Since you’re already on your phone, you enter “bike grease” in your web browser and find that your local shop carries the brand you’ve heard of but have difficulty remembering. On your way to that shop, you see people receiving groceries from a curbside pickup.

All of these things have one thing in common: they are powered by IT. How do these small businesses get to be so tech-savvy? you might wonder. Can they afford their own IT departments?

We’re here to tell you that unless a small- to medium-sized business (SMB) is a tech startup or a firm in the IT sector, it’s likely that they don’t have an internal IT team. Most SMBs take a DIY approach to implementing IT projects (i.e., without bona fide IT experts), but wiser business owners partner with a managed IT services provider (MSP). Here are three reasons why availing managed IT services is one of the best decisions you’ll ever make for your company.

1. You get an IT department, but at the fraction of the cost

The high demand for but low supply of IT professionals makes their salaries some of the biggest across all industries. SMBs can barely afford them, much less compete with larger enterprises that offer employee benefits such as a free gourmet lunch. And even if an SMB snags their own IT specialist, that employee is likely to move to greener pastures sooner or later, never mind how much that business spent on hiring and training them.

However, for less than what you’ll pay one full-time IT employee, you can avail of the services of an entire IT team when you work with an MSP. This team is composed of IT professionals with varied specializations and decades of experience between them. This means that if you have an IT concern, they’re more likely to be able to handle it than a lone employee would.

2. You gain access to a wide range of services that help your business grow

MSPs are a one-stop shop for all of your IT needs, such as:

IT consultation and strategy implementation

Top-notch MSPs provide excellent IT consultation services. They’re able to assess what your business needs, both in the short and long term, and create and implement an IT strategy that will aid and accelerate your company toward its goals. They’re also partners with leading IT solutions providers such as Microsoft and know which offerings will best serve your business.

Data security

Hackers have no qualms about stealing money wherever they can take it for the least amount of effort. And since many small-business owners mistakenly think their companies are too small to be targeted by cybercriminals, they likely don’t invest in cybersecurity, which makes their companies low-hanging fruit for hackers.

Beyond malicious actors, other factors, such as faulty network configurations and calamities, may cause your business to suffer costly downtime.

MSPs help SMBs thwart cybercriminals by implementing the latest and best cybersecurity measures. They also ensure uptime and smooth operations via 24/7 IT support, as well as mitigate the effects of natural and man-made disasters via disaster recovery and business continuity planning.

3. You gain access to the latest and best that IT has to offer

Investing in IT can take up a lot of resources. If you had to do it yourself, you’ll likely have to spend a lot of money on hardware, software, and IT specialists. And when there are advancements in technology, adapting to change can be difficult because it will entail adopting more tech and/or doing away with the IT assets that you’ve paid a lot of money for. If your business is not in tech, then this is highly impractical.

Fortunately, MSPs are in tech. Since they spread their costs across many clients, they can continually invest in the latest gadgets and IT solutions so that they’ll always be able to provide the best service possible. MSPs also stay on top of the latest developments in the world of tech so that you can adjust to disruptive changes in a timely manner and take advantage of their benefits as soon as possible. To illustrate, MSPs who are also licensed Microsoft vendors can advise their clients on how to leverage the Android On-Demand Chat Translation feature in Microsoft Teams.

4. You gain the ability to prepare for and comply with all the data regulations that apply to your business

Different industries have different data rules and regulations, such as HIPAA for the healthcare sector and PCI DSS for businesses that process card transactions. Additionally, different regions and states have their own data privacy regulations. For instance, the Golden State has the California Consumer Privacy Act, Canada has the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and the European Union has the General Data Protection Regulation. And, as of this writing, 10 states are likely to pass their own version of data privacy legislation this year.

Complying with the regulations of one state is hard enough, but if you do business across many states, then compliance is a nightmare. Top-notch MSPs like NetWize stay on top of the shifting techno-legal landscape to help businesses meet all the requirements of every applicable data regulation.

5. You gain a proactive team whose interests are in line with yours

Some business owners believe that they’re saving money by availing IT services only when things break and need fixing. This practice actually costs them more because of one or more of the following reasons:

• The business suffers downtime while waiting for their IT guy to arrive.
• Their IT guy might lack the knowledge to fix the problem, so the business will end up waiting so long for nothing.
• The business pays their IT guy by the hour. If the IT guy provides the option to either go for a quick fix or to resolve underlying tech issues and prevent problems from recurring, the client will often opt for the quick fix.
• The business pays the IT guy whenever there are IT issues to fix. That means mo’ problems, mo’ money for the IT guy!

MSPs, on the other hand, are partners in their clients’ endeavors. If their clients’ companies grow because of the IT services they provide, then those clients will do more business with them. Conversely, if the firms they serve start to fail, then MSPs may ultimately lose those clients. Therefore, the best MSPs are the ones that nip IT issues in the bud before these become a major cause for concern. For a predictable cost, these MSPs grant you all the upside of IT and handle all of its downsides for you, which lets you focus on doing what you do best: your business.

To learn more about how NetWize can be of service to your company, send us a message or call us at 801-747-3200 today.