10 Reasons IT Managers Should Outsource Daily IT Support
/Is this part of your daily experience as an IT manager?
“I can’t print!” you hear as you get a tap on the shoulder from Alice in Accounting.
“HELP ME! My Gmail won’t load and I NEED to get this customer quote out NOW,” writes Bob in sales.
“My Excel is frozen!” yells John in marketing, who’s analyzing the latest Google Analytics numbers for that new marketing campaign execs are pinning their hopes on.
If you’re like many IT managers of fast-growing small businesses or startups, this may be a daily reality for you. Perhaps you’re interrupted so often, you don’t have time to plan and implement that new CRM system the execs have been bugging you about seemingly every day. They just don’t seem to understand your plate is more than full, but overflowing, which just adds to your stress and frustration.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. Managed service providers take care of your daily IT needs so you can focus on the more important and strategic initiatives. A good one will
Here are ten reasons to consider outsourcing your core IT support to a managed service provider, or MSP:
Reduce stress. You probably didn't go into IT to put out constant fires and be stressed out all the time. Outsourcing your daily IT support, such as desktop, server, and network support, to an MSP allows you to stop putting out constant IT fires and reduces stress.
Provide better and faster service to users. Choose an MSP with an SLA that guarantees a response time as low as 15 minutes. Imagine your users getting IT support that quickly—and imagine not having to be involved at all, even CC’d on emails back and forth between users and IT.
Have a one-stop partner to lean on. A good MSP will be a single-stop partner and provide most or all of the IT support you’ll need on an ongoing basis. They may even be able to refer you to a trusted network of folks like Salesforce, SAP consultants, or website developers. You’ll never be alone contending with who to call for what.
IT support for one flat monthly fee. When you outsource to a good MSP, you’ll get ongoing IT support for one fixed monthly fee, no matter how much you or your users need their help. No more of the stressful and uncomfortable back and forths with vendors arguing about IT bills. This also helps you—and the business—budget far more easily.
No more operating blind. Not sure whether your computers are being updated or whether your backups are working every single night? It’s a lot to keep tabs on, between all of your responsibilities and unexpected fires that come up. MSPs take care of patching and updating of your systems, manage and monitor your network for security incidents and hardware or software issues.
Get tools to help you manage your IT. Choose an MSP with a Client Dashboard and order new computers with a click of the mouse for deployment as soon as the next day in the case of unexpected computer failures or new hires. Add new employees by filling out a simple form that ensures they get the exact IT setup they need, with email, a computer, Slack account, Dropbox, and everything else your company uses—every time.
Provide better insights to management. Do you feel like management is always looking for ways to reduce your IT budget, reduce headcount, or veto your recommendations? With a good MSP, you won’t have to worry about this. They’ll provide you insights via a Client Dashboard or emailed reports that show all the IT expenses you’ve had, the ongoing IT needs you have, and even help you budget for equipment replacement and new projects.
Focus on the fun things that got you into IT in the first place. Putting out IT fires constantly probably isn’t why you went into the IT field. By hiring an MSP for your daily IT needs, you can instead focus on projects that are fun, help the company grow, and make you look like a hero to executives and the rest of the business.
Reduce internal staffing needs. Many IT managers don’t enjoy managing people and dealing with office politics. They’d rather do the IT work that got them into IT in the first place. Hiring an MSP means you get a full team instantly that is your partner and doesn’t require adding to your headcount or payroll.
Leverage another company’s infrastructure rather than rolling—and managing—your own. Sure, you could build out a data center to house a disaster recovery or hosting site, but who wants to deal with—or pay for— that? A good MSP will have their own backup and disaster recovery infrastructure and may even be able to help with hosting and implementation of virtualization and cloud build-outs.
These 10 reasons make a pretty compelling case to outsource your daily IT needs to an MSP. In a future article, we’ll give you some useful advice on how to choose an MSP if and when you consider evaluating that as an option.
Have any questions or want to provide feedback about this article? Shoot us a note at info@instantek.com and we’ll be glad to answer your questions or clarify anything.
Thanks for reading!