A managed service provider, or MSP, is the best friend a business can have. Why? Let’s find out!
Updated January 15, 2024.
MSPs save your business money.
Sometimes, the cost of having in-house IT staff is just too high for your budget. How high? Glassdoor estimates the average IT technician salary at $121,000. And the bigger your business, the more IT people you need.
But once you reach a certain number of staff, you also need someone to manage them. Enter the CIO, whose salary averages a whopping $141,797! For small and medium businesses (SMBs), this isn’t always within reach.
Even if you can afford a solid IT team, there’s a good chance that team is overworked. Mental health platform Yerbo’s 2022 “The State of Burnout in Tech” collected data across the IT industry: 32,644 tech workers from 33 countries. According to the study’s Burnout Tool Index, 42.1% of tech workers have a high risk of burnout. Among that 42.1%, two out of five are looking to leave their company within the next six months.
Businesses walk a fine line between looking out for their employees and looking after their customers. That includes keeping computer systems up to date. If your email server is down, customers can’t reach you. If you can’t accept payments, you lose business. And if your network has a data breach, you lose credibility.
MSPs help your two critical obligations—employee satisfaction and customer care—meet in the middle.
An MSP can step in to cover either some or all of your business computing needs exactly when, where, and for how long you need it. This not only supports your company, allowing you to better serve your customers, but also gives your IT staff breathing room, allowing them to find a better work/life balance. Happy employees not only stick around longer, they also make for a more positive work environment.
MSPs offer your business after-hours emergency support.
Everyone needs—and deserves—time off. A 2021 study by the World Health Organization, or WHO, found that “working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35–40 hours a week.”
And even if your IT staff wants to work overtime, not all businesses can afford the overage cost. Then there’s the process of trying to understand the ever-changing, complicated US Department of Labor rules on overtime status requirements...
Standard hours make the most sense—9 to 5, Monday through Friday—for both the mental health of IT workers and the financial health of the company.
The problem is that computer issues don’t sleep, which leaves your network vulnerable during off hours.
MSPs can take over where in-house IT staff leaves off, offering after-hours emergency support seven days a week, 365 days a year. This means that if your company has a security breach at 2 a.m. on a Sunday, a real-time alert can be sent directly to the MSP and handled immediately. Or if a core piece of network equipment fails on a Saturday, an MSP can send a technician on-site to quickly handle the problem—and business can resume Monday morning without a hiccup.
MSPs stay on top of trends.
According to a New York Times article, the “most common product cycle for modern technology products” is between twelve to twenty-four months. And new product offerings are being released all the time, including one that just might solve that big network problem you’ve been having for years. But researching the myriad advances in technology takes time—something that’s in short supply for overworked in-house IT staff, let alone business owners.
So how do companies stay in the know?
MSPs are out in the world every day, supporting a vast array of clients. This means they’re always up to date on the latest technology offerings. And their close partnerships with vendors ensure each client has access to products that work for their business.
The takeaway? MSPs are not only informed about emerging technology but also understand how that technology can benefit you.
MSPs solve problems quickly.
According to Uptime Institute’s 2023 “Annual Outage Analysis,” 70% of reported computer outages can take up to 12 hours to resolve. And Gartner estimates the average cost of network downtime at $5,600 per minute. Other consequences of downtime include security breaches, along with loss of productivity, data, and revenue.
MSPs work with all types of businesses—from small to large, private to government to nonprofit. This wealth of experience works for everyone’s benefit, allowing MSPs to quickly diagnose issues and come up with workable solutions. Quicker diagnosis can mean—you guessed it—less downtime.
MSPs are proactive.
In-house IT staff carry a heavy weight. Meetings, everyday user support requests, setting up new equipment . . . This leaves little time to stay ahead of the game, monitoring networks for potential problems.
MSPs expect the unexpected and excel at catching problems before chaos ensues. Through remote monitoring and management, or RMM, they keep a watchful eye on your network for anything that doesn’t look or act quite right, from a backup server that’s running out of space to suspicious network activity. RMM also allows MSPs to quickly install patches, automate important functions, and keep up with critical security updates.
The best part about RMM is that it works 24/7/365, with customizable real-time alerts. Your MSP takes on emergent issues so your in-house team can focus on strategic business goals.