Outsourcing your IT needs to an experienced managed service provider (MSP) can help your business thrive and drive productivity in many ways.
Disaster Recovery Planning
Planning for disasters is not something most leaders like to do, but having a solid plan is essential to ensure that businesses can return to driving revenue as quickly as possible.
Managed network services providers can assist with your data plan for disaster recovery planning regarding how data and operations will be restored as quickly as possible.
Once you have an MSP under contract, they should be able to produce a step-by-step guide on how business operations will be returned to normal as the plan is being executed.
If you work within certain industries, such as healthcare, there might be additional steps to keep your business compliant regarding data storage. This is something managed network services providers can support you with.
Data Backup and Recovery
There are many ways that data can be backed up and where it is stored. Your MSP should be able to guide you through the many options of how to do this and advise on any network infrastructure upgrades needed to facilitate data backup.
Once you have a solid methodology in place, an MSP should be able to help you with your IT technology upgrade plan to help you budget and plan for future IT spending.
High Availability Systems (HA) and Redundancy
One of the many ways managed network service providers will improve your business continuity is to implement multiple redundant systems to ensure that even in the event of an outage, your operations will continue to run smoothly and seamlessly – even when faced with a hardware or software failure.
Similarly, an experienced managed IT service provider will ensure that load balancing is implemented so that there is an equal amount of traffic to distribute network traffic evenly.
Cloud-Based Solutions
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the years following the pandemic, it became apparent that all industries and businesses needed a cloud-based platform to ensure flexibility for their staff work locations.
Businesses can back up and store their data remotely, and this scalable solution can allow staff to work remotely with ease.
This might not have been what you thought a workforce would look like, but having this option and the IT infrastructure to support it is imperative.
Security Measures
Cybersecurity should be a huge focus for businesses across the US. Statistics clearly show a substantial upward trend in cyber security breaches, with the primary sector being targeted as healthcare.
Hacking and compromising data is a massive business for criminals, and it is in businesses’ interest to make this as challenging as possible for thieves.
Engaging with managed network service providers to take care of your cyber security architecture greatly benefits businesses. MSPs are continuously trained on cutting-edge technology practices to protect businesses’ data.
Implementation of these cyber security features can include firewalls, patch management, intrusion detection, and employee training.
Outsourcing these services dramatically benefits businesses and allows them to spend their overhead on staffing other critical projects.
Business Continuity Testing
Once you have your network infrastructure and program in place, your MSP should regularly run continuity testing to ensure your system performs as it should.
The regularity and results sharing of this testing should be outlined in your services agreement, and the path to remedy should the results not be as expected.
Network and Security Monitoring – 24/7 Support
One of the most important services that an MSP can provide is the continual monitoring of security features and the network generally. An unexpected breach or network outage is inconvenient and has a cost impact on businesses.
Most managed IT service providers offer 24/7 support, such as a staffed or trouble-ticket system where the issue is outlined and addressed throughout business hours.
The level of support your small business requires is undoubtedly something that can be negotiated with your managed IT service provider. Typically, many different levels of support are available.
Within the service agreement, you should ensure that a critical window is outlined, which helps businesses understand how long it will take their managed security services provider to resolve any major or minor issues.
Proactive Maintenance
One of the best things about having a dedicated managed security services provider supporting your small business is the assurance that they continually run proactive and preventative maintenance on your infrastructure.
It is imperative to keep IT networks in good shape, and preventative maintenance is key to encouraging longevity and avoiding downtimes.
Keeping both hardware and software up to date and fully functioning is a huge benefit to business continuity.
Staff Support and Help Desk
When you have an in-house IT department, much of their time can be spent helping other employees with their technical questions. Although this is important, it should not be the focus of your IT team.
With a managed network service provider, they can take the responsibility of help desk support for assisting your employees with their technical questions, which frees up an enormous amount of time.
Similarly, it is essential to keep your employees fully trained across all programs being rolled out to avoid issues when they might be working remotely. Fully trained employees ensure that business continuity is first and foremost.
Another element of staff training would include cyber security training, which is important with a growing trend of increasingly sophisticated phishing and malware attacks on businesses.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this list exploring the benefits of outsourcing your IT needs to a managed services provider has been helpful. If you have additional questions and want to chat with one of our experienced reps about managed IT services, please reach out today!
