IT infrastructure is an essential element of all modern businesses. It requires continuous monitoring and maintenance to ensure it successfully supports your key business activities without being interrupted by issues like downtime, cybersecurity risks, data loss, and so on. Today, no matter the organisation’s size, all companies, from small and medium-sized to large, rely on technology to run their day-to-day operations smoothly and efficiently.
How does your business manage its IT infrastructure? Do you rely on in-house staff to resolve all your IT concerns? Or do you resort to a break-fix approach and outsource your issues when your in-house team can’t handle them?
Your answers to the above questions will help you identify if your organisation is keeping pace with the ever-evolving technology and adapting to better working methods or is still stuck with outdated processes.
This is where managed service providers can come into play. Taking on the responsibility of managing the systems, applications, networks, and servers critical to your organisation, working with a managed service provider allows you to streamline your business processes, remove the hassle of IT difficulties, and gives you the ability to focus your time on accomplishing your goals.
What is a managed service provider?
A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is an organisation that caters to the IT needs of other organisations and carefully manages the services required by them. They usually charge a fixed flat fee for all of the services they offer.
Depending upon business needs, the customer and the MSP agree upon what IT services should be delivered and whether the MSP will take full or selective responsibility for the customer’s IT operations.
These managed service providers provide their customers with essential IT services and offer a deep level of expertise in several areas such as backup, data recovery, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, which are necessary for increased efficiency and smooth running of day-to-day business operations.
What does a managed service provider do?
MSPs (Managed Service Provider) help businesses become more competitive, systematic, and resilient. When organisations are relieved from IT support and maintenance responsibilities, they can invest more time and resources towards achieving their business objectives.
Why hire a managed service provider?
A small or medium-sized business typically dedicates between 1-3 people to look after the businesses’ IT-related needs and issues; on the other hand, a larger organisation may have a bigger team, but they also have more tasks to look after. Any organisation that desires consistent, reliable, and secure IT support at an affordable price should take advantage of a managed service provider’s services.
The in-house staff is generally responsible for various tasks such as installing and configuring new systems and software, monitoring, and maintaining them, replacing them when required, and providing technical support across the organisation. They may or may not be able to handle all the tasks efficiently, which can give rise to the requirement of additional staff. Hiring more people increases costs and involves a lengthy and time-intensive process of searching, interviewing, and training the selected people.
Beyond, the cost-saving benefits there are many other advantages to working with MSPs and outsourcing your businesses’ day-to-day IT operations to the right provider.
1. Proactive Approach
Not only will all IT issues be solved quickly when working with an expert, but your managed service provider will implement proactive maintenance so that you can continue running your business without worrying about any technical issues. MSP’s try to identify problems even before they occur and work towards fixing those issues. They work towards avoiding disruptions to the business’s operations by being proactive in their approach rather than reacting after the problem has occurred.
2. IT support and expertise
Procuring and training your own IT staff is a costly affair whereas, hiring a managed service provider gives you access to highly qualified IT experts at your fingertips. These professionals have a plethora of knowledge and experience, which comes in handy when resolving your IT problems. You can always discuss your concerns, seek advice or guidance from them on any technology-related matters.
3. Customised Solutions
There are a number of Managed Service Providers in the market who specialise in creating tailored solutions for their customers to fit their unique IT needs. Their services range from, helpdesk support, managed devices, and hardware, to cloud services and allow you to pick and choose the services most suitable for your business.
4. Advanced Security
Managed service providers undertake security assessments on behalf of your organisation in order to provide complete security to your organisation’s data and assets. They identify threats and implement relevant security measures to protect you from malware, viruses, or any kind of potential cyber-attack. Some of common steps undertaken by MSPs at this stage include enabling automatic updates for systems, keeping the firewall updated, and installing the antivirus.
By outsourcing your IT work, you allow your business to be as proactive as possible to the rapidly evolving technology landscape. Hiring a good managed service provider could be your first step in that direction.
How to find the perfect Managed Service Provider?
Choosing the right MSP is one of the most crucial decisions you need to make on your business journey. A partnership with the wrong provider only results in wasted time and other valuable resources.
Therefore, it is crucial that you actively conduct your research, evaluate all the available options, and choose your MSP wisely.
Some of the essential attributes to look for while selecting your perfect MSP partner include:
- Accurately understands your needs,
- Brings industry experience,
- Offers flexibility to upgrade or downgrade plans as per your business needs,
- Provides remote as well as on-premise, hybrid support when required,
- Regularly monitor, maintain, and ensure the security of your data and assets,
- Offers expert advice on technology to help your organisation gain a competitive advantage.
Simplify your IT with F1 Solutions
The digital landscape is rapidly evolving, and it makes sense to engage with IT support services that will keep your business at the forefront of your industry. Working with an IT support firm like F1 Solutions means relying on a team of professionals to improve operational efficiency and removing all of the IT roadblocks faced in running a business.
Our managed IT services cover all aspects of support to ensure that you do not have to worry about anything out of your scope of work. We provide local and remote IT support across the country, tailoring our services to meet the demands of a wide variety of Australian businesses.
We do not make lock-in contracts and pride ourselves in offering flexible solutions that can be adapted to meet the needs of your IT systems.
So, what are you waiting for? Contact us today to discuss your IT requirements.
