Your Managed Service Provider (MSP) is your trusted partner in maintaining your company’s IT infrastructure. It doesn’t matter what size your company has. Companies, large or small, need technology to operate properly so that they can focus and prioritize operational efficiency. However, not all businesses can maintain this capacity.
Small businesses often have limited IT resources, meaning they can quickly get overwhelmed and fall behind in updates and network management. This possibility places the company’s system at risk of a critical failure or data breach, which can negatively impact the business. As such, the solution for many becomes outsourcing IT through MSP.
What do MSPs do?
Through MSPs, you’re allowing your business to continue running efficient internal operations with the help of IT experts. MSPs provide you with 24/7 monitoring, managing, and problem resolution for the IT systems within a business. In many cases, having a reliable MSP is more cost-effective than hiring, training, and retaining your own IT staff. Worse, for companies without an IT department, they have an employee who is the go-to “IT person.” As such, having an MSP allows that employee to focus on the company’s business, instead of handling IT problems which should not have been his problem in the first place.
Why do you need MSPs?
When you have an MSP, you can focus on running your business while letting the IT experts handle your technology. Before MSPs entered the market, the only way to deal with problems was by calling in a professional. You’d have to explain the problem and wait until a solution has been found in record time. While this was how things were done before, such a “break-fix” standard is no longer good enough. We’re already in modern times with modern ways to solve problems even before they arise. Sitting and waiting around for technical difficulties to appear before taking action is no longer the practical option.
We have an increasing dependence on automated systems, digital databases, and cloud-based platforms. As such, if the system fails, business operations will be gravely affected. Adopting a break-fix protocol could lead to loss of productivity and revenue.
Due to these higher stakes, we need to take a more proactive approach when it comes to dealing with IT problems. We need adequate IT support to set up a preventive system before a critical failure occurs and to catch potential issues before they become worse.
What they’re not telling you
However, lately, maybe you’ve been finding that your systems are slower than usual. Perhaps, you’ve been receiving more network and hardware complaints from your staff. Instead of saving money, your MSP might be costing you more plus wasted time. There could be many reasons for this decline in service.
One of which is the fast growth of your business versus your MSP. It could be possible that you’ve already outgrown your supplier. The best relationship is always towards proactively helping clients transition when the time is right. As much as MSPs try to respond to problems of their clients, it could lead to a cycle of reactivity— the same break-fix cycle.
Another obstacle we see is when MSPs are so aligned with one particular vendor only. This move is motivated by rebates or profits on the part of the MSP. And when they do this, they end up pushing the client to consider and utilise that one provider only disregarding whether it’s appropriate for the client’s needs.
What you need to do
When you see signs of these, you need to pull your MSP aside and provide feedback that they need to step up and improve. You need a system that can prevent failure and not just band-aid solutions. If your MSP continues to fail, it’s time to move on and find the right fit.
If they don’t know how to kickstart your digital transformation journey, there are other MSPs out there who can give you smarter, better, and more efficient ways on how you can leverage your technology. Don’t let your organisation suffer from inconsiderate and shortsighted resourcing, especially on the IT side!
