Good IT support is worth its weight in gold to an SME, which is why so many companies choose to outsource to a specialist provider. In fact, almost 70% of SMEs in the UK outsource their IT to an IT service provider or to IT consulting firms. So, if you’re an SME you might be wondering if you should do the same and if outsourcing IT is right for your business? To help, we outlined the five main reasons SMEs choose to work with MSPs.
Greater resilience & support
When you work with IT managed services companies, their first task is to reduce your vulnerability to risk. That means making sure that you are not exposed to security breaches, systems failures, or service disruptions (and more). Often it will be a case of fine-tuning multiple elements at once.
Once the required level of resilience is reached, the job of improving standards is much easier. Typically, this will be achieved through ongoing support in the form of small tune-ups. This not only increases resilience and reduces risk but also decreases the likelihood for any urgent fixes, which can be costly and time-consuming. The net result is secure IT that runs smoothly in the background.
Access to specific expertise & service delivery
When you outsource, it is always to gain expertise that you don’t currently have in your organisation. It’s particularly beneficial to SMEs who don’t have the budget to hire a whole team, especially when it comes to something as technical as IT services.
It’s especially useful for service delivery – the way in which a corporation provides users access to IT services, such as apps, data storage, and business resources. Service delivery will have to meet with regulations, compliance & governance policies, internal standards, and industry best practice. Without expertise, this is a serious undertaking for an SME which can be complex and time-consuming. For an IT consulting firm, it’s their bread and butter.
Reduced costs & risks associated with IT
Outsourcing your IT to an MSP is more cost-effective all round. You can gain industry-leading expertise at a fraction of the cost you could expect to pay if you were assembling a team in-house. You can also improve the efficiency of your organisation. For example, automating repetitive tasks can free staff to work on the core business, in turn making them more productive. It also means you don’t have to hire additional team members to get the job done.
MSPs will also make incremental improvements to your IT infrastructure. This little and often approach gradually improves your IT environment, reducing the need for significant outlays and keeping IT costs upfront and transparent. And because your IT is constantly improving, the likelihood of a significant disruption – systems outage or cyberattack for example – is reduced.
Support suited to your business
IT support from an MSP should be a little more like working with an IT consultancy. They’ll meet you where you are, and develop a strategy and a roadmap that supports your business and that can adapt to its demands – whatever they may be. Anything less than this kind of support probably isn’t going to work in the long-term. Cookie-cutter support programmes or break-fix models tend to be quite rigid and aren’t especially cost-effective. They’re fine up to a certain point, but against a backdrop of rapidly evolving tech and business landscapes, SMEs will require support that adjust and flex with them. The pandemic is a pretty good recent example of that.
Improved compliance
IT compliance is an often-overlooked part of the overall IT infrastructure. It includes elements like data governance, the Data Protection Act, Operational Risk, Information Security, and Best Practice. There’s an ever-increasing list of statutory, legal, and regulatory compliance requirements, making up a complex environment in which companies must meet. Companies must be able to demonstrate that they adhere to internal policies and processes for managing data, meet external laws and standards, and follow guidelines and regulations. As with other aspects of IT, it’s a huge undertaking if you don’t have expertise in the field that has significant legal ramifications. It should be part of any agreement you have with an MSP.
Are you looking to with an IT Service Company in London? Contact Nutbourne today to discuss how we can help. Contact number: +44 (0) 203 137 7273