For many businesses, finding the right, IT support level can take time and effort. Your IT needs are often growing and changing along with your business, and it can be difficult to scale an in-house IT team to those fluctuations. That’s why many companies turn to IT managed services in Orlando and hire a managed service provider, or MSP, to meet their IT needs. Of course, like any business decision, this option has pros and cons. Keep reading to learn what those pros and cons are.
What Is a Managed Service Provider?
Before we dive into the pros and cons of hiring an MSP, you must understand what an MSP is and what services it can provide. MSPs help support your company’s technology needs for a flat monthly rate. The packages and services offered can vary and will be tailored to your business’s needs. However, they frequently include the following types of services:
- Helpdesk services
- Data backup
- Network security
- Mobile device management
- Software as a service (SaaS)
- And more
Ultimately, an MSP can meet your day-to-day technology needs and become a partner focused on helping your business better utilize technology to grow and thrive.
What Are the Drawbacks of an MSP?
Now that we’ve established the role an MSP plays let’s talk about some of the drawbacks of working with an MSP. One of the biggest cons people will mention when considering whether or not to hire an MSP is the lack of an in-house IT presence. MSPs largely manage your business’s technology remotely, thanks to cloud computing and data storage advances. While most of your IT needs can be handled in this manner, there will sometimes be issues that need to be addressed in person. Often, this will involve walking you through the troubleshooting process and trying to guide you to fix the problem while your IT expert remains in a remote location. If your MSP is local to your business, you may be able to request in-house assistance for these matters, but it will sometimes come at an additional fee for the “house call.”
Another issue many people raise when considering an MSP is the cost. A reputable MSP will typically cost you a few hundred dollars every month, depending on the level of service you’re requesting and your business’s size and technology needs. Of course, this is primarily a drawback if you’re viewing your MSP as an additional IT cost rather than a way to reduce your existing IT costs. Frequently, an MSP can reduce your overall spending on technology.
One final drawback to consider is that an MSP may only cover some niche areas of your IT needs. No IT service provider can provide specialized support for all pieces of technology and every software. So, if you have a third-party software unique to your industry, your MSP may not be able to provide you with support for that specific piece of software when needed. Of course, you can always check an MSP’s website to see which applications they can provide support for or ask before signing a contract.
What Are the Benefits of an MSP?
The pros of hiring an MSP greatly outweigh the potential drawbacks. As stated above, while many view the cost of an MSP as a con, it can actually reduce your overall IT costs, particularly if you’re using an MSP in place of an in-house IT team, rather than to supplement your in-house team. The wide range of expertise and support you receive can often consolidate your IT expenses into one manageable monthly payment that’s lower than all of your other IT support sources combined.
An MSP is also a proactive solution to your IT needs, rather than a reactive one. They can recommend tech upgrades that will boost productivity, and perform essential maintenance tasks that will prevent downtime, rather than simply responding to problems when they occur.
Additionally, hiring an MSP gives you access to a huge range of expertise. MSPs employ IT professionals with a great deal of experience in many areas of technology, and as a client, you have the ability to tap into all that knowledge at any time. This makes it much easier for you to get the answers you’re seeking, rather than relying on just 1 or 2 in-house IT guys for help.
Finally, MSPs can help improve your data security and business continuity, which are essential to protecting your company from catastrophic data losses. A data security breach can cost a company tens of thousands of dollars, and some businesses never recover from such an event. Hiring an MSP can allow you to upgrade your security so you don’t become another statistic and can recover quickly should data loss ever occur in your business.
If you need an MSP, contact Millennium Technology Group. We are one of the top managed service providers in Orlando and can find a service package that meets your needs.