Technology advances are happening every single day, and those advances can make it hard to stay on top of what your business really needs. When do I need to upgrade my servers? Is my data protected? Where are my backups going? The questions are endless, and the time that it takes a business owner or another employee to stay on top of the ever-changing technical needs of an organization can be daunting.
Traditionally, small-medium sized businesses waited until something broke or went wrong to summon the assistance of a trained professional. We call this method of getting IT support the break-fix approach. You wait until something breaks, then call to get it fixed. Sounds logical, right?
Today, the industry is seeing a widespread shift from the break-fix method of obtaining IT support to managed services. Managed service providers are best described as trusted partners in business. They assist in the consulting, implementation, and management of an organization’s IT systems from beginning to end, and the benefits of hiring a managed service provider are endless.
Easily Budget for IT Expenses
If you don’t currently have a managed service provider, you probably try everything that you can to solve a technical issue before calling your ‘IT guy’. We all know that a quick call to them can cost you hundreds that you didn’t budget for. Your monthly invoices can change drastically each month. So, how are you able to budget for IT support? When you hire a managed service provider, you pay the same total invoice each month, enabling you to plan for costs related to your technology at the beginning of each year.
Proactive Monitoring
Is your ‘IT guy’ monitoring your information systems 24/7 or do they only look at things when you call them in a panic because something has gone awry? The former is almost always the case. When you hire a managed service provider, you are hiring someone to keep an eye on your systems at all times. Your managed IT team will get alerts any time something goes wrong, even if it is 3 AM or a holiday. Most of the time, they are able to remotely solve the issue before you even know it exists. This reduces the chance that technical issues will disrupt your work day and reduce downtime, which ultimately increases productivity and keeps the money rolling in for you and your organization.
Other benefits of hiring a managed service provider include being positive that your technology is always up to date and meeting compliance standards, having piece of mind that your data is protected, and having a business partner to help you plan for the future. It will also free up the time that you currently spend worrying about your technology and allow you to focus on the most important piece of the puzzle, your business.
If you think you might be interested in hiring a managed services provider, contact a CMA team member today to discuss our Compass Managed Services solution!
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