So, you've been thinking about hiring a Managed Service Provider, but you have some hesitations. You know IT plays a major role in a growing business, but managing it can be a tall task if you have little to no IT experience. We'll be the first to say there are a lot of misconceptions out there. And it can be hard to navigate fact from fiction. To help you choose the provider that's best for you, here's a list debunking misconceptions about Managed IT.
Misconception 1: Hiring a Managed IT Service Means Losing Control of My Businesses Technology
To start, the goal of your IT service provider is to focus on cybersecurity and the day-to-day business technology needs. They have no interest in separating you from your tech.
These concerns are why contracts are so important. The contract allows both parties to be specific and clear about the roles and responsibilities coming from one another.
It is in the contract stage where you should communicate the amount of control you want your vendor to take on. In order to get the most out of the relationship, you need to set clear expectations for the scope of service you wish to have.
If you define the level of control early on, it will make it easier to select a partner that's right for you.
Misconception 2: Managed IT Services are Only for Big Businesses
It's true that certain businesses believe that outsourcing IT is a luxury only larger businesses can afford. However, outsourcing IT may actually bring small businesses more money in the long run.
If you find the proper partner to work with, they will work with you to cut costs and ensure you're only paying for what you need. The other side to the "only for big businesses" is thinking your business is too small to be at risk of any kind of cybersecurity threat.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. The number of Cyberattacks against small businesses have been on the rise. Not only have they been happening more often, but they are also more severe. No matter the size or industry, bad actors don't discriminate.
A business of any size could suffer from a cybersecurity attack. So having an actionable plan for your IT is crucial. A service provider will help businesses big or small protect themselves against threats.
Misconception 3: Outsourcing IT is Expensive
This might be the most common misconception on my list. Like I said before, the right service provider will work with you to cut costs. What we've found through working with clients over the years, is that they weren't aware of how much cheaper outsourcing IT can be compared to hiring IT in-house.
Think about it though, if you hire someone onto your in-house team you have to factor in paying them a full salary plus benefits. Which can be very costly.
Outsourcing on the other hand could free up company resources you would have delegated to maybe one hire, to now being able to onboard up to 4 IT professionals with help desk support for a fraction of the cost.
Your outsourced IT team isn't trying to nickel and dime you. They want to provide your company with the specific services you require. Plus offer smooth technical processes that focus on IT management and security.
Misconception 4: Managed Service Providers Don't Work With In-House IT
False, there are plenty of MSP's that co-manage with in-house IT teams. Our company being one of them.
Your business might already have some form of in-house IT. Whatever their scope may be, you might feel like outsourced providers won't be able to offer you any additional support. However, the right provider will be willing to work with your team to reduce their workload and increase productivity.
When your in-house IT team is continually swamped with low-level support requests such as account access issues and troubleshooting assistance, they have less time to devote to business-critical operations such as diligently monitoring your network for cyber threats.
In addition, less diligent network monitoring reduces productivity within your in-house team. It can also jeopardize the security of your network. When you partially outsource some of the network protection, your in-house IT can focus more on business-critical tasks and keep your network constantly monitored.
This is due to the fact that an outsources provider can serve as a fairly basic help desk. To which employees can call for low-level assistance. For businesses that are overwhelmed by the idea of dealing with a cyber-attack on their own, an outsourced provider can assist in preventing attacks and recovering your network.
Consider what aspects of your in-house role you could outsource to an MSP and how your business would benefit.
Misconception 5: Hiring a Managed Service Provider will Slow Down your Business
IT companies can assist your business with increasing productivity and deal with IT issues as promptly as possible.
Hiring an MSP does not have to include the difficulties of being on hold for hours or traversing a complicated automated system just to reach a human.
Your time is valuable, and there is no reason to waste it by dealing with lost time due to IT issues when a tech can respond and assist you in resolving the issues quickly and efficiently. A service provider will even save you time by managing and calling third-party providers on your behalf.
Misconception 6: Managed Service has Poor Customer Service
When outsourcing your IT, you may have the concern your provider will have slower response times. Mostly because they aren't physically present in your office, especially in the event of a crisis.
However, an outsourced provider may be better equipped to address the pressing issues than the in-house IT.
In-house staff devote a lot of their time to the low-level issues such as computer troubleshooting. Which means when a true crisis arises, they may have already taken on too much or there's not enough expertise to respond to an emergency.
Most Managed Services have someone ready to help when issues arise.
Additionally, your in-house team logs off at the end of the work day. Any overnight or off hour issues are no longer their responsibility until they're back on the clock. Whereas with an outsourced provider, you can pay to have 24/7 support.
The provider will delegate a team of people dedicated to your network. In other instances, they divi their staff up into tiers. So that serious issues can be effectively handed to a well-qualified staff member. Most service providers use a ticketing system for support that ensures that no matter how serious the problem is, an in-house employee can easily submit a support request that will be given a prompt response.
A provider will normally spell out the terms in a Service Level Agreement or SLA to concretely promise and deliver on their quality of customer service. SLAs are typically included as an element of an MSP contract.
If you pay for 24-hour service, they'll define the boundaries of customer service, such as minimum response times for support requests, times for when help desks are available, and how requests received after business hours will be handled.
And Finally,
Misconception 7: Managed Service Providers Do Everything!
Sadly, there isn't an IT company out there that can do everything. One can promise you the world, but delivery might take some time.
This is an important myth to note because in order for you to get the most out of your hired service provider, you need to have clear expectations of what they can and cannot do.
So here's what we can't do.
IT providers can't fix everything immediately. Realistically, some things take longer than others to figure out and come up with solutions for. We can't prevent Every issue from occurring. But we will put your business in the best place to do so.
A service provider also can't force you to change your business operations. At the end of the day, it is your business. You’re just doing what you can to protect it and grow.
And lastly, we can't get your coffee and walk your dog (haha). In all seriousness, you're hiring a service provider to manage your IT in a way that's most convenient to you.
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So I hope this video cleared up some common misconceptions when thinking about hiring an Managed Service Provider.
It might be the time to put your networks management in the capable hands of a Managed Service Provider.
If you happened to click on this video because you are a business looking for a Managed Service Provider, feel free to book a time to chat with us via the Calendly link below. I'd be happy to discuss ways to optimize your company's IT
Click here to schedule a free 15-minute meeting with Stan Kats, our Founder and Chief Technologist.
STG IT Consulting Group proudly provides IT Service for Small to Medium Businesses in Greater Los Angeles. We'd love to see if we can help you too!
