Given their limited resources, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are constantly searching for ways to save on costs. A great way to save money on IT costs is by partnering with a managed IT services provider (MSP).
What is a managed IT services provider?
An MSP is a team of IT experts that offers a wide variety of IT services to organizations, including:
- Help desk support
- Network monitoring and management
- Cybersecurity
- Cloud computing services
- Data backup and disaster recovery
For a flat monthly fee, MSPs proactively manage and maintain their clients’ IT infrastructures, ensuring that these are always running smoothly and securely.
How can an MSP help SMBs reduce IT costs?
Partnering with an MSP lets your company enjoy the following benefits, which contribute to overall cost savings:
Access to affordable expertise
Partnering with an MSP means you gain access to a pool of IT experts without having to hire them as full-time employees. These professionals possess diverse skills and certifications that allow them to provide comprehensive support for your SMB.
If you don’t have in-house IT staff, you can rely on an MSP for all of your company’s IT needs. This allows you to save on salaries and benefits as well as costs related to hiring and training. Alternatively, you may limit your existing IT workforce and turn to an MSP for specialized support and complex one-off projects.
Lower overhead costs
MSPs can help you lower your overhead costs by leveraging their partnerships with vendors to get you discounted rates on a range of products and services, including hardware, software, security, and cloud solutions. This can save you a lot of money compared to purchasing these resources on your own.
Moreover, MSPs often provide 24/7 monitoring and support for these products and services. This proactive approach eliminates the need to spend exorbitant amounts on emergency technical support, as you only pay a single monthly fee to get IT support whenever you need it.
Minimized IT downtime
Downtime can be disastrous for any business, leading to lost productivity, dissatisfied customers, and financial setbacks. By partnering with an MSP, you can minimize the impact of downtime on your company.
MSPs monitor your IT systems around the clock, so if an issue arises, their technicians are notified immediately and can start working on a resolution right away. This, in turn, minimizes how long your systems are offline, which keeps downtime to a minimum and prevents disruption to your business operations.
Enhanced security posture
Recovering from cyberattacks can be costly. While it’s impossible to prevent all cyberthreats, having a robust security infrastructure can greatly reduce the risks of a successful attack. An MSP can help enhance your company’s security posture by providing a comprehensive range of security services, including firewalls and endpoint protection. By investing in these services, you can fortify your business’s cyber defenses against potential breaches and avoid the substantial financial losses associated with recovering from cyberattacks.
Ensured compliance with relevant regulations
Many modern businesses have to comply with industry-specific regulations and relevant privacy and security standards, such as HIPAA and PCI DSS. Failure to adhere to these regulations can lead to hefty penalties, reputational damage, and legal repercussions.
An MSP can help your business stay compliant with such regulations by providing expert guidance and implementing measures, including:
- Risk assessment: MSPs can assess your IT infrastructure and identify the areas where you need to improve your compliance.
- Policy development: MSPs can help you create and implement policies and procedures that are compliant with relevant regulations.
- Training: MSPs can provide training to your employees on the regulations and how to comply with them.
Your company can enjoy all these cost savings by partnering with the IT experts of predictiveIT. To learn more about how managed IT services can help your business, schedule a FREE technology business review.
