Why an IT MSP is so Valuable for your Business
As you search the internet for information about help with your business’ IT needs, you will invariably run into the abbreviation “IT MSP”, which is short for an IT Support company known as an IT Managed Service Provider.
What is an IT MSP?
An MSP is an IT Support company that coordinates and manages all or part of a business’s IT systems and networks.
Managed Service Providers, either on-premise or remotely, manage your company’s systems and IT assets.
The variety of services MSPs provide can range from the monitoring of your IT network to being responsible for all repairs, updates and patches, as well as providing software and licensing, hardware, infrastructure, cloud services, and directly helping your staff in various IT capacities.
The service agreement between the MSP and the company will clarify the diverse services included, which generally are offered at a flat fee per month.
Working with a managed services company is completely different than utilizing dedicated staff onsite or using a “pay by the hour” IT company for sporadic assistance.
This IT Support model is often referred to as “break-fix,” as the business only contacts the IT company when problems arise, or things break. This approach is generally penny-wise, but pound foolish – many costly issues can be avoided with proactive monitoring and prompt resolution as opposed to waiting and reacting to a problem once it arises or is deeply entrenched in your network.
In general, the MSP provides outsourced IT services for companies, usually from small to mid-sized businesses, in an effort to make their IT more effective and efficient so that company executives can focus their efforts on their core operations.
MSPs also serve as important partners to their clients as they enable them to reap the benefits of the latest technology without arduous research and a complex purchasing process.
In addition, companies can utilize the expertise of their MSP to better strategize the most effective use of IT to meet their business objectives.
Benefits of Choosing an IT MSP
In short: more efficient, reliable, and scalable IT operations at a fraction of what you pay for an internal IT team.
With an expert and proven staff and state-of-the-art technological infrastructure your trusted MSP, like Sequentur, can dramatically improve the efficiency of your company’s overall IT operations. Because of their focus on and expertise with cloud-based services, an IT Managed Service Provider can provide your company with a wide variety of IT options that are scalable to meet growth-related needs.
Competent MSPs also offer 24/7 Help Desk service, improving the reliability of your company’s IT while saving your staff production time and giving you peace of mind. All employees will see a dramatic improvement in IT ticket resolution compared to waiting for help from overburdened in-house tech resources.
Another important service MSPs provide to improve IT operations is called Performance Monitoring. Using a high-end firewall, agents, and other tools your MSP will proactively manage and oversee your IT network’s performance.
We’ll know when your network is being adversely affected with detrimental results. For example, we’ll know immediately when your internet is operating slowly or is down and will quickly take the necessary steps to resolve the situation to minimize any disruption to your activities.
Significant IT Cost Savings and Improved IT Inventory Management/Budgeting
Importantly, with the reduction of IT infrastructure and maintenance costs and the reduction of dedicated employee resources for IT, an MSP often provides substantial IT cost savings in both the short and long run.
With the use of a Managed IT Service Provider that offers flat-fee plans, your company can more easily get a handle on its overall IT inventory management and you will be able to predict and prepare accurate monthly and annual IT budgets.
In our case, and based on our clients’ reports, we reduce IT costs by an average of 25%.
A Team of Experts
IT professionals become more costly the more specialized and skilled they become. Employing one or two individuals means a limited range of expertise.
With an IT Managed Services Provider, you get the benefit of a broad range of expertise from cloud services, security, Microsoft Office 365, training, and much more at a fraction of the price.
Freeing Up Dedicated Resources and Help with Strategy
With a reliable MSP, you can reassign dedicated IT and other resources to carry out the many different tasks your company requires and as your IT partner and advisor, your company can more effectively strategize how to utilize your internal IT personnel to achieve your business goals.
Our proven expertise can help guide you on how to utilize IT most effectively within the budgetary restrictions you have. At Sequentur, we proactively advise our clients based on help desk ticket trends, the state of their network, and current happenings in the world.
Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity
Nothing strikes greater fear for so many SMBs than the nightmare scenario of their network being hacked and sensitive data being corrupted or stolen.
A reliable IT Managed Service Provider offers your company layers of the latest cybersecurity protection through firewalls, applications, monitoring, filtering, and other protective measures.
MSPs have the technology and expertise to keep hackers out and to quickly rid the system of their presence if they manage to penetrate these layered defenses.
As noted below, even if cyber criminals do somehow overcome these formidable cybersecurity defenses, an MSP will also provide robust back-ups of a company’s critical data and applications to ensure the continuity of business operations.
Updated IT and Compliance Requirements
Competent MSPs will ensure that your company’s IT network and applications are regularly updated to the latest and most effective versions to meet your specific needs.
An IT Managed Service Provider’s technology portfolio is also continuously being used to benefit your company without the need for you to research and implement it yourself. You can also rest assured that all industry-specific security and other compliance requirements are accounted for and being met.
When having Sequentur as your IT MSP and partner, this can also include NIST Compliance and other special needs required for your business.
Peace of Mind Through Back-Ups
Through its emphasis on the important services of Back-ups, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity an MSP offers your company what it wants most: peace of mind!
With these services, your management team and employees can rest easy at night knowing that all your client’s data and business applications are comprehensively backed up at a secure location and, even in the event of a harmful man-made or natural event, your MSP can quickly restore operations with and ensure that your business will not suffer the consequences from costly downtime.
You can also consider this benefit in terms of cybersecurity. In the unlikely event that a bad actor overcomes the thorough cybersecurity measures provided by an IT Managed Service Provider, your data and applications can quickly be restored.
This means that your company will not suffer from downtime because of corrupted data nor ever have to pay any costly fees if your company is infected by Ransomware.
Getting the Best
Now that you know what an MSP or IT Managed Service Provider is and some important benefits they can bring to your company, make it a point to contact one soon.
Furthermore, when checking statistics and performance you’ll find – as our clients have – that Sequentur delivers and is always ready to help.
We’ve helped many clients clean up and secure their data after down firewalls, hacking corruption, outdated servers, and even expired software license issues.
We also regularly help our clients with training. We take the difficulty out of your IT with expert managed services to allow you to focus on your work, your team, your customers, and your expansion.
Call us to find out more.
Tampa Bay Office: (813) 489-4122, Washington D.C. Office: (703) 260-1119
