Five Signs You Need a Managed IT Services Provider | OneNeck

If you’re looking for a competitive IT advantage, maybe it’s time to look at partnering with a managed service provider (MSP). These trusted IT partners work in conjunction with your IT department— freeing them to focus on strategic projects that impact your bottom line. MSPs can take over tedious daily tasks, increase your return on investment, shrink operational costs, improve security and safeguard data backup. 

More companies are recognizing the need for MSPs. MarketsandMarkets forecasts the Managed Services Market to grow from $107.17 billion in 2014 to $193.34 billion by 2019, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.5%, with North America expected to be the largest Managed Services Market in terms of revenues generated.

If you’re ready to start considering a managed services partner for your organization, then consider these five signs it’s time:

#1 You Have No IT Strategy
Every business needs a long-term IT plan to stay competitive.  Your strategy needs to be more than simply putting out fires and keeping up with the daily, mundane tasks that demand attention. 

Your IT department is filled with top talent that would best be used to promote your business goals.  For instance, you could have your IT department come up with custom-built software solutions to boost productivity or provide data analysis and real-time insights.

Additionally, your in-house IT department is an important line of your cybersecurity defense.  By laying out a clear strategy, the IT department can work closely with those in the C-suite to manage risks and diminish the chances of data loss and security breaches. 

#2 You’re Understaffed
Basic IT maintenance can sap your IT department’s energy, so it’s essential to make the best use of limited resources. You want your IT staff to have time for strategic endeavors that will propel your business to the forefront of your industry.  So, leverage the expertise of an MSP—and save your IT staff’s talents for in-house projects. That will lead to more satisfaction for them and greater results for you. 

#3 You Can’t Keep Up with Security Demands
Keeping up with the latest cybersecurity threats can be a full-time job – yet with the average cost of a breach at $3.6 million, you can’t afford to fall behind. An MSP specialized in cybersecurity can implement innovative policies to safeguard your business. This includes 24/7 management and monitoring to protect your data from breaches. With an MSP, you’ll have access to the latest anti-virus software, patching will happen automatically, and all your firewalls will be up to date.

#4 You’re Not as Efficient as You Should Be
Is your help desk inundated with requests? Are users complaining about slow IT service?  If you’re not meeting user demand, it’s not good for anyone. Slow IT response can squash efficiency and frustrate internal and external stakeholders. What’s more, bottlenecks can kill business initiatives and lead to downtime that hurts revenue. A skilled MSP can be used to offload tasks as your bandwidth becomes stretched. 

#5 You Lack Certain Expertise
No one’s an expert in every area, and this is especially true with a small IT department.  Yet it’s notoriously difficult to find skilled, qualified IT professionals. In fact, the ISACA, a non-profit information security advocacy group, predicts there will be a global shortage of two million cyber security professionals by 2019.

It may be tempting to use contract workers as a stop-gap, but it takes time to find and train temp workers, and it’s difficult to find ones that have the exact skills you need for a project. An MSP, on the other hand, gives you the flexibility to supplement your staff as needed. 

OneNeck can help free you from necessary, but time-consuming, IT tasks like monitoring and managing your IT infrastructure. You’ll be free to focus the right people and resources on the right things. Your strategic initiatives will fall into place, all while increasing efficiency and productivity. Plug into the power of OneNeck’s managed services expertise today!