Many companies in Charlotte, North Carolina, including yours, rely heavily on computers, smartphones, and other technologies to accomplish most tasks. So when IT issues arise, business operations are likely to get disrupted, which can result in lost sales and unhappy customers. You must then ensure that you have reliable tech systems. To achieve this, you may be considering hiring either internal IT staff or a managed IT services provider (MSP).
In this blog, you’ll learn why you should let an MSP handle your technology needs. Not only are they better at handling specialized IT tasks, but they can also take regular ones to the next level. Here are some tasks that MSPs do that an in-house IT team can’t keep up with.
1. 24/7 IT support
Is your internet connection excruciatingly slow? Did you get locked out of your computer because you forgot your password? Are you dealing with the dreaded blue screen of death yet again? These are just some of the common tech problems that companies encounter.
An internal IT team will usually respond to these concerns within office hours. So if you require tech support on a Friday night, for example, you’d have to pay them for overtime work. Otherwise, the soonest you can expect them to respond is the following Monday.
In contrast, an MSP provides 24/7 technical support with fast response times. This minimizes IT disruption and downtime, which translates to a productive workforce. What’s more, a reputable MSP can handle all types of tech issues — even the most complex ones — because they have IT specialists who all have in-depth experience and up-to-date training and certifications.
If you’re looking to have the same comprehensive support with in-house staff, you’ll need to hire multiple IT specialists since a single employee can’t be proficient in all aspects of technology. This option would be very expensive because aside from salaries, you’ll also have to pay for benefits, vacation and sick leaves, and training to keep your IT staff abreast of technology trends. With an MSP, however, you’ll only have to pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited tech support.
2. Proactive IT system maintenance and management
In-house IT staff are usually overwhelmed by the number of support tickets they have to resolve per day. This means they commonly put other IT tasks, such as maintenance and management, on the back burner.
An MSP, on the other hand, proactively maintains and manages your IT systems. This allows them to spot and resolve technical gaps, preventing problems from happening in the first place. You can rest easy knowing your systems are always running optimally.
3. Cybersecurity management
Cyberthreats keep growing in number and sophistication, which means companies must keep improving their cyber defenses. However, the steep price points of robust cybersecurity solutions make these inaccessible to small- and medium-sized businesses.
An MSP uses advanced technologies to constantly monitor, evaluate, and secure their clients’ systems. They also see to it they stay up to date on the latest security solutions and measures to ensure that they always adopt IT best practices.
4. Backup and disaster recovery (BDR)
Since internal IT employees are too busy with support tickets, they are likely unable to work on BDR measures. It’s no surprise that only 54% of companies have a written BDR plan and an even smaller percentage actually test their plan out. This means that if they experience any disaster — whether man-made or natural — they may suffer costly IT downtime and data loss.
To put it more concretely, a 2016 Ponemon Institute report found that the average cost of downtime is $8,851 per minute. The sad reality is that downtime rarely lasts for just a minute, so you can expect the actual damage to your company to be even higher. And when small businesses lose data, 60% of them close down within six months.
An MSP prevents such disastrous outcomes with business continuity planning. This service makes sure you can easily access your crucial business data after a catastrophe so you can resume operations right away.
Ready partner with a reputable MSP? Look no further than SpectrumWise. With our help, you can feel calm and confident in your technology. Book your FREE IT consultation today!
