5 things to ask an IT Managed Service Provider
With new technologies emerging rapidly and becoming a core part of running a successful business, many companies are now aware that they need external expertise to manage their IT deployments. As a result, Gartner Inc. predicts that the global IT managed services market will surge by 6.8% in 2022 to reach $1.3 trillion. In addition, the increased dependence on enterprise software and applications implies that the long-term trend toward managed IT services is poised to continue.
Why Managed IT Services?
Due to an explosion of emerging technologies and evolving customer needs, IT-managed service providers have become crucial to helping business owners derive the most value from their IT investments. An IT MSP arsenal comprises numerous services essential to effectively manage modern IT deployments, including device management, cloud infrastructure management, helpdesk, storage, network monitoring, and network security.
In addition to the common slate of IT infrastructure deployments, many IT MSPs have broadened their portfolio to include premium services that help companies increase their profit margins and customer reach. These include managed services like data analytics, advanced cybersecurity operations, consulting on compliance regulations, cloud-based services, application-as-a-service solutions and many others.
Advantages of an IT Managed Service Provider
Streamline business operations
An IT MSP brings a holistic approach to streamlining your business operations by providing essential services, such as data security, storage, and monitoring, under one roof. In addition, the IT MSP has a standby team of experienced professionals ready to address challenges in your IT stack.
Centralised solutions
IT MSPs host your data and enterprise applications in centralised remote servers. All MSP facilities adhere to the international standards established to ensure your company’s business continuity in the event of a disaster, thus promising increased stability and security.
Round-the-clock availability
Most business leaders opt for IT MSPs due to the promise of 24/7 availability of experts and professional services. Maintaining an in-house IT staff is expensive, and the IT personnel may not have the resources in place to learn new skills and constantly adapt to cybersecurity threats placing you at risk of IT failure and attacks.
IT MSPs ensure the availability of highly competent IT professionals to protect you from any incidents.
Ensuring compliance
New regulations emerge every other day and may overwhelm a business resulting in non-compliance. On the other hand, IT MSPs can alleviate the compliance burden since trained experts ensure that your technological deployments conform to the highest levels of industry specific compliance.
What you Should Look for when choosing an IT MSP?
Choosing the right IT MSP is a critical business decision. Many companies consider only the capabilities of an MSP when choosing, but it is worth also considering how those capabilities will fit into operational objectives. So the million-dollar question is, what should you look for when choosing an IT MSP?
1.Assistance and Support Capabilities
The IT MSP assistance and support capabilities should be the foremost attribute to evaluate when choosing an MSP. In fast-paced cybersecurity and technological environments, there is always a possibility of an unexpected security incident, network disruption, system or network downtime or other challenges that can impact your daily business operations adversely.
Hence, it would help if you settled on an IT MSP that provides instant support and assistance to ensure you provide uninterrupted customer services and your business is always running. MSP support and assistance promise business continuity which goes a long way in gaining customer trust and satisfaction, positioning your business in an upward growth trajectory.
2. Expertise and Experience
Different IT MSPs specialise in specific IT fields. For example, some MSPs may lack the expertise and experience in expensive network monitoring, while others boast valuable experience in providing enterprise-grade IT support. Therefore, evaluating the provider’s processes is vital when choosing an MSP. For example, what is the MSPs’ response time? How long does the MSP take to identify an issue and respond appropriately? Does the MSP have a process to ensure quick but effective resolution? Answering these questions when evaluating an IT MSP can help determine the experience and expertise level brought to the table, enabling you to decide whether it is the right MSP for managing your IT processes and business demands.
3. Scope of Services Offered
When evaluating an IT MSP, you should consider your IT management needs to determine if the listed services suit your organisation. The IT field is vast and dynamic.
Depending on your industry, your choice of IT MSP should ensure that the scope of offered services aligns with your technology demands and business needs. You should also evaluate if the offered services are suitable for your organisation’s type and size.
Organisational needs change as the market and technological landscape evolves, requiring your business to be highly flexible. In many instances, the technological solutions and services you deploy today will most likely change in a few years or even months. In this regard, you should choose an MSP that provides the flexibility needed to scale and tailor services to your business’s changing needs. In addition, choosing a flexible IT MSP enables you to outsource IT services that add more value to respond to changing market conditions and needs.
4. Third-Party Accreditations
Evaluating the third-party accreditations of a prospective IT MSP provides a deeper insight into the level of expertise and depth of knowledge the provider has in different areas. In particular, assessing partner accreditations within your industry and organisational size and type helps determine if the IT MSP is suited for your specific business needs and demands. You should also check the length of time the IT MSP has been accredited with the third parties to determine if the provider can maintain a long-term partnership and operate at the highest level.
5. Assess the Business Values
When choosing the right IT MSP, an often overlooked part is assessing the provider’s business values. Choosing an IT MSP whose business values align with your organisation’s is critically important. For example, you should enquire about a prospective MSP’s corporate social responsibility, core business values and sustainability pledge ensuring cultural compatibility between your MSP and your organization. This fosters a suitable and mutually beneficial partnership that permits you to get the best out of the MSPs solutions and services.
Cloud Geeni – The Right MSP for Your Business?
At Cloud Geeni we provide our clients with a ready made team of highly skilled engineers and support advisors.
Cloud Geeni is a certified Microsoft Cloud Platform provider with over three decades of experience providing private cloud manged services to UK businesses in the Legal, Financial, Manufacturing and professional services sectors.
The end user experience is our primary focus, providing your employees a seamless and functional experience which faciltites remote working and the ability to access systems from any internet enabled device.
Our Cloud consultants are experts in their chosen sector enabling us to provide your business with industry specific advice rregarding cloud adoption.
Request a call back below to find out more about Cloud Geeni’s Manged Services for your business.