More and more companies of all shapes and sizes are moving towards the expertise of a managed IT service provider. There are a whole host of reasons for this gradual shift from in house IT teams to outsourced IT providers. We’ve detailed a few of what we think are the most important factors behind this trend.

 

Why outsource your IT support to a managed IT service provider?

 

1. Stay focussed on your core business

 

Once you’ve shifted the burden of complex IT decisions to an external managed IT service provider you can free up the time and resources to devote to the operational challenges of your core business. The wide range of different systems, products and services out there can drain a significant amount of your resources before you’ve even implemented anything. Especially if you don’t know which will provide the most value or solve your specific problems.

 

2. Future proofing

 

IT is a constantly evolving industry where best practice and available tools change quickly. Trying to stay abreast of new opportunities and potential new threats is near impossible unless you are living and breathing it every day. Fortunately a managed IT service provider will always be monitoring the state of your network and equipment and doing the same for many other organisations. When new opportunities present themselves, a managed IT service provider will be implementing these improvements quickly and at scale. New threats are also patched immediately.

 

3. Predictable monthly costs

 

It’s no secret that IT equipment can break or your printer can suddenly refuse to comply. If you aren’t covered by a managed IT service provider you will regularly face unexpected costs as your IT equipment ages or new logistical issues present themselves. With a managed IT service provider you will know precisely what your IT spend is every month for the foreseeable future, allowing you to plan your expenditure in other areas with confidence. What’s more is that you’ll be covered for any eventuality, which leads to our next point…

 

 

4. Peace of mind

 

It can be a bit scary if you have no IT support to rely on if something goes wrong. A simple problem with one of your staff laptops can realistically grind your operations to a stand still, leaving you with staff that cannot work and a business that is not running efficiently. Outsourcing to a proactive managed IT service provider means that most issues will be resolved before you are even aware there is a problem. In the rare instance that something does go wrong, you’ll still be covered for any conceivable IT problem and most of these can be resolved quickly and remotely.

 

5. Flexibility and scalability

 

Perhaps the biggest advantage of engaging a managed IT service provider is the flexibility this provides your business. Contracts will run between 3, 6 or 12 months depending on your circumstances, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to upscale or downscale your IT spend in line with the needs of your business.

 

6. Security and compliance

 

There are so many threats to your business online and now in the context of the GDPR you have far greater responsibilities around the collection, handling and storing of personal information. This is a big burden of responsibility to take on, especially since these threats continue to evolve and become more sophisticated. The benefit of a managed IT service provider in this instance is clear. They can work with you to improve your internal processes, completely take care of your network and IT equipment and overall, ensure that the risk from future threats is minimised as much as possible.

 

 

7. Expertise

 

Qualifications don’t equal experience. Few problems are novel for managed IT service providers – it’s likely they’ll have faced similar issues in the past and can therefore provide a fix very quickly. An in house IT team may be highly qualified but they are isolated from the outside world and therefore will not have the same high level of experience as an engineer that has worked on dozens of different projects for lots of businesses.

 

8. Disaster recovery and business continuity

 

It isn’t a matter of “if” your hard drives will fail, it is a matter of when. If the worst happens and you do lose all of your data you can only imagine how this will impact your business if you haven’t taken any precautions. One of the first things that a managed provider will do when coming on board is to develop your disaster recovery policy and put in place measures to reduce the risk of an IT failure impacting your operations. Fortunately, outsourcing your IT support will also mean that your data remains backed up at all times.

 

9. Reducing staff costs

 

It costs a lot of money to recruit an in house team in any department. When you’ve factored in the cost of recruitment, training, pensions and other related staff costs it may become apparent that outsourcing your IT support can result in a significant monthly saving. You’ll also avoid costs associated with recruiting any temporary staff and ongoing training and management of this team.

 

Sound good?

 

Mansys have 14 years of experience supporting businesses and charities across Yorkshire to reduce their IT spend and increase the reliability and speed of their IT support. Would you like to discuss your requirements in more detail? Get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.