According to Microsoft Store’s 2017 Small Business Insights Survey, nearly half of business owners surveyed identified their top challenge as staying ahead of rapid changes in technology in 2018. Additionally, 23 percent emphasized that budget constraints were top of mind in maintaining and growing their endeavors. Other top concerns for 2018 included enhancing security and having peace of mind over IT functions.
Here are the top four reasons to subscribe to Managed Services:
1. Access to Newer Technologies
Investing in the managed services business model tackles existing labor constraints and prevents internal IT departments from always having to play catch-up. By working with an MSP, business can gain access to business-grade technology, leverage tools that help increase the reliability of their IT infrastructure and also receive a virtual CIO (vCIO). The role of a vCIO is critical to business as it helps in understanding and managing the evolving technology landscape—allowing your clients to better plan for long-term goals and scale their business.
2. ROI/Cost Savings
One of the biggest business values of managed services is greater cost savings. IT budgets consist of many items: hardware costs, software and network infrastructure costs and maintenance costs, to name a few. Also, the cost of labor is significant for any business, but especially for SMBs who rely on managed services providers. Some companies also have no dedicated IT team and employees are forced to compensate by performing technical tasks that are outside of their core area of expertise, slowing productivity and preventing the business from being able to grow. With the managed services business model, businesses are able to more easily predict their IT costs on a month-to-month basis and focus on their main business activities.
3. Enhanced Security
Security is becoming a vexing issue for all small businesses. Laptops, desktops, smartphones, applications, tablets, servers, operating systems, browsers, wearable technology and the like all store and transmit data and thus require the strictest security measures. Seventy percent of businesses surveyed in a Microsoft Store’s Small Business Insights Survey suggested they would prefer to pay for support in matters of cybersecurity, rather than do it themselves.
4. Peace of Mind
This is one of the main benefits of managed IT services. You don’t want to have to worry about your daily IT operations. You don’t want to have to second-guess the reliability and speediness of your network connection. Similarly, you don’t want to have to worry about what the state your IT environment will be when you commute in to work each morning. As such, business choose to work with an MSP because they can provide 24x7x365 coverage.
In working with the right MSP, key executives can take advantage of outsourcing various tasks to a trusted partner—allowing employees to focus on other business functions, and gaining peace of mind.
