Managed IT services, more necessary than ever?

In an age where everything is digital, you need to keep your IT up to date.

In 2020, businesses rely heavily on their IT. Having an IT infrastructure that gives you the edge over the competition is imperative. Now, with so many solutions being highly available & there being so many options – it’s easy to take the wrong route.

Say you have a company in the sales industry & have 5+ staff working from their desk. You’ve got an old CRM, an old server running outdated software, your email system isn’t synchronized or backed up. Maybe you only have a domestic grade antivirus or none at all & the workstations are running Windows 7. Now COVID has hit & you have no idea how to proceed. This is where an IT managed service provider (MSP) really helps.

What are the benefits of an IT Managed Service Provider?

• Increased reliability & availability – Having a dedicated team to manage the reliability of your infrastructure means higher availability of your hardware/software, meaning less downtime for your staff.
• Lower TCO – If your infrastructure goes down for even 2 hours, if you have 5 staff members, this means 10 hours of lost work (at a minimum) plus an IT technician to fix your issue. Imagine if you have 50 staff – this means 100 hours of lost performance.
• Better support for when you need it – Having a managed service provider means you have a team who know your infrastructure & staff inside & out. When your staff have an issue, they lodge a ticket, a tech will solve the issue within a reasonable amount of time.
• Research & development for your IT – This is where having a dedicated team really stands out. You should know you’re heading in the right direction with your CRM, software, email system, cloud services/onsite server, security, backups, etc.
• Other areas – Not all MSPs will be able to assist with other areas of IT, but having a single point of contact for you website, marketing, software development, phone system, internet connection, email, workstations, servers & cloud services is where Absolute IT excel.

Services that MSPs might provide

• Email management & filtering
  • Many email systems suffer from a lack of synchronicity, security, compatibility with CRMs/software or deliverability. Emails should be filtered in 2020 as scams are only getting worse.
• Server & workstation management
  • Servers & workstations should be kept up to date, both the software & the hardware. This is to avoid downtime & data loss.
• Cyber security provision / auditing
  • Your network, computers, Wi-Fi, servers, website, email & software need to be secure. This security should be by design, not an after-thought.
• Network management
  • Is your network setup correctly? Do you have a guest network for your customers & a secure network for your business. Are your VoIP phones separated from your computers?
• IT Help desk for your staff
  • When your staff have issues, they should be able to just pick up the phone & have their issue resolved in a reasonable amount of time. This will reduce staff downtime.
• Research & development
  • When a new solution comes out that is better than the current software, antivirus, CRM, cloud offering, etc that you are using. Are you going to know about this? Probably not!
• Software development
  • Recently we developed a software for a construction company that saved them over $400,000 per year in admin costs due to it’s automation. Maybe you need something like this?
• Phone system management
  • Are you still using an old PABX system when you only have 10 or less staff in the office? There are much better solutions that can be implemented.
• Printer setup
  • Printers are painful, pass this pain onto an MSP.
• Website / SEO / SEM management
  • We come across many websites that just don’t represent the business & its offerings or rank well on Google. Also, we come across a LOT of unsecured or even already hacked websites.
• Internet connection solutions
  • Your internet connection might be slowing down your staff. Or maybe you are paying for a 100/40 NBN connection when you only need a 50/20 NBN connection? Let an MSP help.

Overall, the main idea with having a dedicated IT managed service provider is to make sure you are headed in the right direction with your IT. The first scenario of the sales company given in this blog was an example, but not uncommon – too common in fact! As in the above list of services, an MSP is almost a requirement when you have 5, 20 or 100+ staff members.