Did you know that 37% of small businesses in the US started outsourcing for at least one process?
Running a business is no easy feat and requires a lot of manpower in different branches. Outsourcing is a great way to relieve your business of some burdens so you can focus on your actual work.
Some of the most outsourced services include digital marketing, customer support, and IT. IT is one of the most important functions of a business, especially in a digitally-driven world. Outsourced IT support is cost-effective, efficient, customizable, and easy to scale.
In addition, it helps you compete with larger companies without breaking the bank. If you’re looking for IT solutions, outsourcing is one of – if not the – best options for SMBs.
Want to know if outsourced IT support is right for you? Read on for a complete guide on how outsourced IT support can benefit your business.
Understanding Managed IT Services and MSPs
First, let’s discover what managed IT Services are and what an MSP is. Understanding these concepts makes it easier to know how they can help your business. So, let’s start with an MSP.
MSP stands for “Managed Service Provider.” Often these are IT companies that can handle all your digital needs. This includes data management, customer support, inventory, ordering, network management, and security.
Managed IT Services is a fancy term for the range of work MSPs can do. Often this term is interchangeable with MSP to refer to both the work and the overall company.
When looking at MSPs, the services you get will depend on the company in question and your budget. Suffice it to say that MSPs are an all-in-one IT solution that is as good as any in-house solution.
Some advantages are monetary, while others are experience related. We’ll go into everything further on in this guide. For now, it’s enough to know that Managed IT Services or MSPs are easier to implement and a better business decision for many companies.
Flexibility in Work and Costs
Let’s kick things off with dollars and sense. One of the major advantages of outsourced IT support is how cost-efficient it is. It makes total sense to do everything you can to help your bottom line, and this is one way to do it.
The fact of the matter is every company needs an IT department. The larger companies with a thousand employees might have the resources to build one in-house. Yet even then, a surprising amount of companies and work is still outsourced.
The reason for this is two-fold.
Lower Labor Costs
The first major reason is that outsourcing cuts down on associated labor costs. Let’s break it down.
Creating and running an in-house IT department is expensive. First, you have to hunt down qualified individuals and hire them. Everything from the interview process to the training is going to be a huge headache.
Remember that you’ll build everything from scratch with an in-house IT department. This means hiring a bunch of people for different roles – not to mention all the technical knowledge required for a decent setup. You’ll also face issues every time something changes.
If someone leaves or a significant update occurs, you risk going back to square one. You’ll have to find more people and do more training. All of that has a cost associated with it.
When you look for IT employees, you’ll get what you’re willing to pay for. Skilled employees expect a good salary, and those who work for cheap may not get you the results you want.
An MSP, on the other hand, will usually be cheaper. This is because you are getting a package deal – an entire IT team, already trained, experienced, and ready to go. You won’t lose time or money on hiring and training, and the MSP will handle any disruptions.
Cost Flexibility
The other major benefit is that you can easily control how much you spend. Unlike an in-house IT department with fixed salaries, MSPs have flexible rates. In addition, you can pay an MSP only for the services you need or use.
By contrast, an in-house IT staff gets paid by the hour, whether something happens or not. This is because a lot of the time, your IT department will always be on standby.
Because an MSP is flexible, you can change what you need them to do and how much it will cost you. If something happens, they can kick into gear, with any costs already ironed out. In the meantime, if you only need them to manage security, they can do that at a specific rate.
Many great MSPs let you customize what you need. This guarantees that you only pay for what you use during any given period. At the same time, you don’t sacrifice any stability or security.
Better Efficiency
You lose a lot of time trying to build and maintain an in-house solution. Some business owners or managers even try to handle IT themselves.
While that approach is brave, and with enough practice and YouTube tutorials, anything is possible, it’s also not efficient. Getting an outside provider that already has the skills and experience is preferable.
An MSP doesn’t need extra training or practice. They know what’s expected of them and work diligently with you to make it happen. Because an MSP’s soul job is IT, they will also always stay on top of things.
This means always addressing problems the second they come up. It also means keeping everything updated and running as smoothly as it can be.
The real benefit is that an MSP makes sure you don’t experience any major downtime. They’ll pre-empt any issues they see and fix those issues right away.
Professional Experience
You don’t have to worry about experience or mistakes when you go for professional IT services. There are always growing pains with trying to set up your own in-house IT. Inefficiencies creep in, and sometimes people can make mistakes.
At best, this results in lost productivity; at worst, you could lose crucial data and even face a lawsuit. A professional MSP can help you avoid those silly and damaging issues.
In-House IT vs. Outsourced IT Services
Having a qualified in-house IT employee is not the same as having one with pro experience. What exactly do we mean by that?
When you hire and train staff yourself, you create a new team of workers. Few or none of the members in your new IT department have ever worked together. It’s also unlikely that they’ve used your business’s IT systems before.
While you can acclimatize them to a certain extent, you can’t avoid problems in the long term. They also can’t hold a candle to IT specialists who have pro experience and work for reputable firms.
When you hire an MSP, you get a dedicated team of expert professionals. These IT specialists have worked together for a while and can pool their extensive knowledge and experience. In short, any problem your business might run into, they’ve seen before.
Short training alone can never hope to match years or even decades spent honing your craft. MSPs come already trained, experienced, and ready to make a world of difference.
The Ability to Scale
Part of growing any business is scalability. As you get bigger and have to expand your operations, you don’t want to get held back by anything. If you build an in-house IT department, that will have to grow with you.
We hardly need to reiterate all of the associated costs that would bring. You’d have to hire more people, retrain them, and likely even retool your entire system. The lost productivity such an upgrade would cause can be pretty severe.
The thing about MSPs is that they help you grow without this compromise. They are set up from the get-go to offer flexible solutions for businesses of any size. Built into those solutions is the knowledge that your company will eventually grow.
As a result, any Managed Service Provider worth their salt can make the transition to a larger scale without missing a beat. They already know how many extra bodies to assign and which IT solutions to implement ahead of time. They can also work with you to customize something that works for you in any scenario.
By the same token, every MSP can also help you scale down. This is useful if you take your business in a different direction that requires a different IT setup. For example, some companies start out using an MSP for everything and then transition some duties to in-house staff.
MSPs can accommodate this without fuss. They can always work well alongside any in-house staff or systems you have in place.
Top Notch Security and Service
A major thing that MSPs can do is handle security. Some directly protect your data and business from malicious activity. Others focus on risk mitigation and keeping everything updated to avoid weaknesses.
A good Managed Service Provider should offer top-tier security and service. The major way they do this is by prioritizing your business and your IT needs.
Depending on the company, this can sometimes look different, but a few things remain the same. For starters, an MSP will always keep everything updated and running in tip-top shape. They’ll never let an issue fester because they aren’t sure how to fix it.
They’ll act fast to minimize damage and correct or patch any issues. MSPs will offer proactive service and security and keep your interests at heart.
Another major thing an MSP can do is always keep up with the latest developments. This goes for the realm of cyber security, as well as more efficient technologies and IT trends. Unlike an in-house department which is content as long as things aren’t busted, an MSP is always on the cutting edge.
Part of the top-notch service they offer is always finding ways to help you and your business grow.
Less Risk
At the risk of recapping some of the points of this article, an MSP reduces your risks. Because MSPs are all qualified and trained pros, you never have to worry about mistakes. In-house data breaches are very common at smaller start-ups, but not so with MSPs.
They have a reputation for professional integrity to maintain. An individual employee at your company can always mess up. A firm that exists only to provide the best IT service possible won’t make those mistakes.
Providing anything less than top-tier service is like shooting themselves in the foot. You can also always customize the cost-work ratio and go in a different direction if things don’t work out.
Even the Odds
You can’t escape the fact that you need IT for your business and that all the big companies already have it. The costs and headaches of getting one set up are high enough already.
When you consider you have competition, it becomes even more complicated. Even if you want to commit to the in-house approach, you’ll have a hard time getting the best and brightest. The most skilled IT pros either work for huge companies like Google or Amazon or work for MSPs.
Because of this, hiring an MSP can help you even out the odds. It can level the playing field against much bigger companies. You don’t have to compete by offering large salaries or eating into your budget.
Instead, you can take advantage of all the expertise already in MSP companies. You can stand toe to toe with tech giants and get fantastic service for a fraction of the cost.
How Outsourced IT Support Helps
There are many ways in which outsourced IT support can make a big difference for your business. Managed IT service providers do everything an in-house option does with less hassle. MSPs are cheap, flexible, and a total game-changer.
Are you looking for IT support to help your business expand into new horizons? At EMPIST, we offer award-winning service and expertise on all things IT-related. To find out how we can help take your business to the next level, contact us today.