Engaging with a Managed Services Provider (MSP) is in no way a replacement of the IT department or any sort of threat to existing jobs. Mid-size and enterprise companies operate most successfully when each department is able to focus on what they do best. If a company’s IT staff are occupied with mundane, day-to-day maintenance instead of growing their technological initiatives and ideas, the company is not using its resources effectively or efficiently.
Using an MSP can free up an organization’s IT department and help train them for more substantial and long-term projects. In addition to working closely with an organization’s IT department, MSPs can provide a range of other benefits:
- Never Short-Handed – Whenever an MSP person assigned to the company is out for any reason, they are replaced by an equally skilled colleague who has been briefed and trained on the company’s IT environment.
- Broader Selection of Skills – Sometimes getting certain IT tasks accomplished requires skills that none of the personnel assigned to the company have. In these cases, the MSP can temporarily replace assigned personnel with others who do have those needed skills. No need to engage a “specialist” to get unusual tasks handled.
- Coping with growth stops being a problem. Often, when companies are growing quickly, they are challenged to find and acquire qualified IT employees to accommodate that growth. This often results in rushing and settling for less-than-ideal candidates. Bringing in additional MSP resources shifts that daunting task to a partner who is far better equipped and qualified to provide the right people with the right skills to keep the company growing. longer will a single individual be held responsible for any specific situation. The MSP will own the obligation to resolve any issue quickly and thoroughly.
- One-Time Events like installations or upgrades are often frustrating because the company has to go to great expense to send people to training that they’ll only use once. MSP personnel who have already performed those installations or upgrades can often be swapped into place to execute those tasks without having to send anyone to training.
- Backfill your regular staff when they’re called away for special assignments. No users suffer!
- Technology decisions become independent of human resource issues when the people supporting the company’s platforms are not employees. Suddenly the company is free to make major revisions to their chosen platforms without regard for the need to terminate a lot of employees. Instead, they can simply require the MSP to furnish people with the new skill sets.
- Agility is increased when MSP personnel can fill in the gaps between standard operating procedure and rapidly emerging new needs. New technologies can be deployed and generating value faster because there is no learning curve for on-staff personnel.
- Reliability and Accountability are redefined by the MSP. No longer will a single individual be held responsible for any specific situation. The MSP will own the obligation to resolve any issue quickly and thoroughly.
Partnering with an MSP not only helps reduce cost spent on outlying projects, but also allows organizations to receive the most tailored and specialized assistance available. When uncommon or highly-specific problems arise, the MSP will have an abundance of trained staff and resources available to assess and tackle the issue at hand quickly and efficiently, rather than one employee struggling to solve problems that they may not have the skill set to solve.
If the problem is not resolved quickly and courteously, the MSP is held responsible and can be dealt with rather than an internal employee. No longer will growing companies be stretched thin at the expense of their customers when an internal IT team is too busy dealing with IT fire fights. An MSP can increase productivity in every department and provide an organization with personalized and reliable support 24/7/365.