What the Right Managed Services Provider Can Do for Your Small Business
If your small business uses a Managed Services Provider instead of having one of your tech-savvy employees handle it – you’re on the right track. The IT technology that’s designed to make operations and workflows more efficient can ironically become a time-sucking burden when something goes wrong. A sluggish network, outages, glitches, forgetting to do the updates, etc., slows productivity.
The simple definition of a Managed Services Provider is a third-party that takes the responsibility of managing the IT network off your plate so your staff can focus on work. It’s an ideal solution…unless your MSP starts to become a burden, too.
Most of our clients come to us out of frustration with their current Managed Services Provider. They’ve experienced slow service, delayed response times, no sense of urgency, lack of communication, and unexpected costs for repairs. Or their provider has a “fix what’s broken” business model, meaning the more issues you have the more money they make. This creates a disincentive to get to the root problem to find a permanent solution.
The right MSP isn’t there just to fix what’s broken. They should be more like a good business partner to make your systems more efficient and affordable. mPowered IT has the starting point of proactive management to prevent issues. Our goal is to keep everything running smoothly, minimizing the need for service calls whenever possible. From there, it’s more about serving your broader technology needs. We protect security, ensure data backups, providing hosting and Cloud services, and help you determine what technologies you may need as your business grows.
Managed Cyber Security for Small Business
A frightening number of small businesses have passive or even non-existent security measures in place to guard against cyberattacks. What we hear in national news are the attacks on major corporations or government entities. The ma and pa businesses that get hacked may not even make the local news. So, it’s easy to assume that those highly sophisticated cyber criminals have no interest in your business.
That’s where you’d be wrong. Cybercriminals go for easy prey just like car thieves look for unlocked cars. If your network is depending only on a firewall or if you’re not doing your software updates, you’re low hanging fruit. If your employee’s passwords are easy to guess, are used for multiple logins, or haven’t been changed in over a year, your doors may as well be unlocked.
Your business needs Managed Cyber Security to keep its data safe. When it’s managed, you have a team of experts constantly monitoring your systems for vulnerabilities and signs of intrusion. mPowered IT will also help you internally, showing you best practices for your employees to follow, so they don’t inadvertently open the doors to your data.
Cloud Managed Services
The cost of keeping up with rapidly advancing technology can be enormous. You invest in a system and two years later, it may no longer fit your needs, or something much better becomes available – but capital expenditures are not in the budget.
The more systems you can transition to the Cloud, the easier it is to manage your technology needs and the costs. Imagine never having to buy hardware or software again! Use Cloud Managed Services and your desktops, phone systems, email, file sharing and more are all services you simply pay for monthly, instead of buying them and having them go obsolete. We keep the technology up to date and you only pay for services you need when you need them.
mPowered IT offers Managed IT Services for Microsoft Office 365 and Azure. These are widely popular Cloud-based systems that make it incredibly easy for businesses to keep employees connected, working together, and communicating from anywhere. But the setup, training, and management of these systems, let alone getting support, becomes another drain on company resources. mPowered IT becomes that resource.
The Cost and Benefits of Managed IT Services for Small Business
The smaller the business, the more hats each person wears. Every business gets to that tipping point, having to decide if it makes more sense to hire outside expertise. With IT services, when you notice how much time staff spends dealing with network issues, or when management meets to talk about future technology needs, that should be your tipping point.
But what about the cost? With Managed IT Services, most providers optimize their service packages for larger companies, so the cost is out of range for a small business. On top of that, they want you to switch to their systems in order to manage them.
mPowered IT customizes Managed IT Services and pricing for small business to fit the needs and budget of the business. We manage whatever systems you have in place. Then it’s one affordable monthly fee to take it all off your plate.
The benefits of Managed IT Services – if you’ve selected the right provider – will be lower overall IT costs, increased productivity, less downtime, and assurance that if something ever goes wrong, it will be made right. It’s a whole team working on your company’s behalf to make sure all systems run as they should.
Managed IT Services vs Outsourcing
Another consideration is whether to use local Managed IT Services vs outsourcing to India or other country. A lot of American businesses choose outsourcing to save on IT costs and get top-notch expertise.
But what they find is a communications barrier. The technicians often speak in technical terms that are unfamiliar, and if English is not their first language, comprehension can be even more difficult. This can lead to staff feeling uncomfortable making service requests, so they spend too much time trying to work out the issues on their own. Now you’re paying for outsourced services that are still being handled internally.
We staff our help desk with American engineers who are trained to speak in laymen’s terms to our clients. Good communication is extremely important, especially when dealing with issues.
Choose Your MSP Wisely
Your MSP can have a huge impact on how well your small business operates. It can either empower your business to move forward with its mission, or it can become another problem to deal with. You want your MSP to care about how well your systems are working and partner with you to create a technology infrastructure that fits your specific business. The service and relationship should be a priority. If you need a good IT partner, give us a call at 678-389-6200.