Keeping up with the demands of technology and how it runs your business is a never-ending process. You need to have someone in-house or hire someone to help keep you on the right track.
Businesses everywhere are starting to take advantage of managed IT services. The managed IT market in 2019 is expected to rise to $512 billion.
But what is managed IT services? This post will tell you what it is and how it can help your New York business.
Keep reading to learn how your business can benefit from these services.
What Is Managed IT Services?
Hiring someone full time to manage your business’ IT needs is expensive. You need to pay a full-time salary, payroll taxes, health insurance, and everything else that comes from adding on staff.
A managed IT service will solve this problem by letting you delegate your IT concerns to another company.
A managed services company will charge you a flat or variable rate based on your needs and provide you IT consulting whenever you need it. This scalability lets you pay as little or as much as you want, depending on your needs.
How Can a Managed IT Provider Help?
An IT provider has several services you can choose from to purchase. If you are a small shop, then you may need only the bare minimum. But it pays to know what all is available for you to take advantage of.
1. Get Access to Experts
Finding the right people to work for you is hard. People lie, embellish, and often aren’t as experienced as they tell you.
A managed service provider has already done all the hard work and found the people that know how to manage IT. They are a great source of hardware knowledge, software knowledge, and how to set up your company’s entire IT infrastructure.
There are also cases when you may need specialized advice. These specialized areas can be anything from forensics to big data.
This kind of talent comes at a higher price tag. Your provider already has these resources available for your business.
2. Vendor Management
You need access to a lot of software today. You have your operating system, phone software, accounting software, and a host of others.
Your IT provider will have built relationships with most of the prominent software vendors and will be able to manage your relationships with them.
This means you don’t have to talk two several companies to manage all of your software. You only need to call up your provider.
There can also be a communication barrier when talking to tech support. You might not speak geek. Having someone speak it for you means less time on the phone and less downtime for your business.
3. 24/7 Monitoring and Support
Sometimes things break, and you need to be prepared when they do.
If you are looking for 24/7 support, then your cost increases when you hire in-house. An IT managed service provider will provide you with this support as part of your service package.
Being able to call someone any time of the day means you spend less time waiting to go back to work.
Your provider can also provide monitoring software to keep track of what happens on your computer network. This monitoring means you can find problems as they happened instead of rushing to fix something when you need it.
4. Cybersecurity Preparation
Cybercrime accounted for $2.7 billion in damages in the year 2018. As more businesses come online and become exposed, that number could keep getting bigger.
It is more important than ever to make sure your business is secured and protected from hackers.
Depending on your industry, you may also have government regulations that you need to follow that act to protect your data. Your provider will help you navigate these waters and follow any rules the government mandates.
5. Keep Focused on Your Core Business
You don’t need to be running an IT department. You have more important things to worry about in your business.
The staff you hire needs to be able to complement what you do best, and experts should handle anything else.
When you hire an IT consulting company, you don’t have to worry about managing your own IT department. This freedom frees you up to focus on running your business and working on the things that you know best.
6. Lower and More Predictable Costs
If you don’t know what you are doing when buying software and hardware you could end up spending much more than you need. Your service provider will be able to advise you on your exact needs, so you don’t spend more than necessary.
You also save on the cost of a full-time IT person. If you don’t have many IT needs, then a full-time position could be a waste. With a managed provider you only pay a monthly fee, and they will show up to fix your problem and advise you as you need help.
7. Stay Up To Date With New Technology
It seems like there is some new technology coming out every week. You probably don’t have time to keep up with everything.
An IT service provider will keep up to date for you. Their staff not only knows how to make the technology of today work but also keep up with new trends that can help your business.
You can always rest easy knowing that you are using the latest technology that can help put your business ahead of the game.
Don’t Wait To Get Your IT Under Control
Don’t waste money hiring an in-house IT staff that doesn’t have anything to do most of the day. Now that we’ve answered the question: what is managed IT services, it’s time to talk to someone that can help.
If you are ready to talk then give us a call. We will take a look at your business and do everything we can to help!
