The managed IT services industry keeps changing. Globally, the managed services market was expected to grow 11.7% between 2019 and 2025, according to a market analysis report by Grand View Research.
Managed service providers are growing in popularity because more small and medium businesses are going looking for IT expertise rather than trying to build it in-house.
Businesses face a long list of management challenges along the way: hiring the right people, working to a smaller budget, and deciding what technology is worth investing in.
There are plenty of ways outsourcing IT helps an organisation get an edge. Here are six of them.
1. Cost savings
One way an MSP reduces cost is by tailoring the support package to what the business actually needs. On top of that, it carries far less overhead than an internal IT department does.
Beyond salaries and benefits, keeping IT staff trained costs money as well, and it is the cost people forget to count.
2. Hands off IT management
It gets hard for staff to stay effective in the job they were hired for when their role quietly expands to take in IT responsibilities.
Take a busy queue as an example. A level 3 technician ends up clearing level 1 tickets to keep things moving and to keep customers served.
The result is that your most senior person spends the day on the least senior work, falls behind on their own, and misses deadlines.
Outsourcing level 1 support to an MSP puts those senior people back on the work that actually moves the business forward.
3. Better security
According to a 2019 study, 66% of small and medium businesses worldwide reported a cyberattack in the previous 12 months. On average that carried a $200,000 USD cost, which is a great deal of money for a small company with no plan for it.
Attackers keep getting more capable, so the sensible response is to put proper measures in place rather than wait.
A managed service provider brings a lot of that with it: managed detection and response, security operations, simpler processes, and help meeting the obligations you are subject to.
4. Bridging the staffing gap
As technology becomes more central to how a business runs, having the people to manage it matters more. That is easier said than done.
Qualified people in specialist roles are thin on the ground, and the budget for them is thinner, which is a problem small businesses feel first.
Some MSPs offer staffing as well, with candidates in roles such as security engineer, SharePoint developer and chief information officer. Technical resources can be found and placed to suit, whether that is contract, contract to hire, or a permanent role.
5. Access to better tooling
Outsourcing IT support gives a business the use of an MSP’s toolset, which lifts productivity and profitability without having to buy any of it.
Businesses can use the provider’s cloud servers as well, which takes away the cost of running internal servers on site.
Most providers include maintenance, so software updates and upgrades happen consistently rather than whenever somebody remembers.
6. Built to scale
Moving to the cloud is what makes scaling possible. Around $304.9 billion was forecast to be spent on public cloud services globally in 2021, up 18.4% from $257.5 billion in 2020, according to Gartner.
Data held on physical hardware is difficult to scale. Cloud storage has no such limit, so you can meet what you need now without an outage while somebody orders more disk.
Cloud based applications like virtual desktops and video conferencing are worth the investment too, for any business planning to grow.
Getting the benefit of it
An MSP saves a business time and money either as an all-in-one outsourcing partner, or as an extension of what you already have. Getting in touch with one is the way to find out which of those you need.
At Coast IT we look after the technology and the day to day support for Australian businesses, and we would rather tell you plainly what is worth doing than sell you a list.
Have a look at what a managed agreement covers, or get in touch for a no obligation quote on what your setup would cost to look after.