5 Top Traits of Leading Managed IT Service Providers
Thanks to the technology powering your office and worksites, you can produce quality work more efficiently than ever. You can share files, communicate across long distances, perform equipment maintenance, and collect essential data about all of it. But many business leaders can’t address problems with their digital systems because they’re focused on their core business functions. With a managed IT service provider, an entire team of experts provides proactive cyber protection and day-to-day maintenance for about the same price as a full-time employee.
However, like most outsourced services of this nature, you must closely examine their offerings. Just because they promise they’ll take care of your technology stack doesn’t mean they will meet your expectations. Thus, we want to help you recognize the standout attributes of an ideal IT service management company so you can make the right choice for your business.
What is IT Service Management?
Typically performed by a third-party outsourcing company, it is the proactive administration and supervision of all the information technology functions, products, and applications for a business.
In simpler terms, it’s about developing and using specific processes to prevent problems instead of simply correcting errors.
Managed Service Providers (also called MSPs) deliver long-term stability through careful preparation and maintenance. They reject the old “break/fix” model of IT help that only comes around when something goes wrong. Instead, your company receives solid support for its IT needs by ensuring those situations don’t happen, and if they do, they use clear protocols to minimize the damage and costs.
5 Attributes of Outstanding Managed IT Service Providers
1. Proper Processes
It all comes down to proactive preparation. If the MSP you’re considering to hire doesn’t have general guidelines in place for how it can help your company, then you need to look somewhere else immediately. Hopefully, they have some basic templates, and they should use them to create systems and methods that address your specific needs while streamlining the most time-consuming IT tasks.
Superior management services companies will offer this without you having to ask. Since they know there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to any technology platform, they will create processes that anticipate your needs and potential concerns.
2. Superior Software Solutions
The next step concerns how they will put those processes into action. Your business might have its internal software applications for completing your day-to-day work, but the MSP can also introduce software that improve your workflows. Part of being a committed IT partner involves looking at what your company uses for technology and making recommendations that enhance how you work.
They will also introduce applications that help them protect your technology. As the flip side to the processes above, these companies will bring defined best practises that can guard your systems, upgrade them when needed, and address any problem that arises, especially when it comes to disaster recovery.
3. Compassionate Customer Care
Sure, you use technology to do your work, but you’re also not an IT company. Hence, you need a business partner that believes in actually helping you. Meaning, they don’t talk down to you, never use IT jargon, and speak in everyday language so you know what they’re doing for you. When your MSP provides cogent protocols and solutions for putting their ideas into action, you know they will be a thoughtful guide for your business.
4. Seamless Scaling
One of the more underappreciated yet crucial aspects of outsourcing your technology, is having an IT partner that keeps a critical eye on the future. You’re focused on the long-term growth of your business, so you need an MSP that will instinctively adjust your IT setup to match that growth.
What works today won’t work tomorrow. The servers and applications powering your operations need constant maintenance. The changing nature of software outstrips the enhancements to the hardware. You need an IT company that will face these realities with definitive scalability plans to not fall behind the curve. In fact, the continual improvement approach will put you farther ahead of the curve than your competitors.
5. Budgetary Bliss
While your average MSP talks about saving time and money with their services, credible IT managed services companies will turn promises into realities. By channeling all of your digital operations through their dedicated IT service desk, they can reduce risk, provide enhanced incident management, and guard against equipment failure. All of that contributes to lowering your operational and capital costs.
Yes, it’s possible to shrink your IT budget while also increasing your IT efficiency and stability. Working with a proactive IT outsourcing firm reduces your employee overhead, decreases your physical IT infrastructure, and lowers your overall expenses.
Choose High-Quality Managed IT Services for Your Business
Technology is expensive. But it can be even more costly if you spend extra time fixing problems that weren’t already considered from the gate. The true benefit of working with a sophisticated managed services provider is that you’re paying for dedicated services to ensure you’re protected today and ready for what happens tomorrow. Investing in technology has never made so much sense or been so practical, as long as you do your research and pay attention to what matters for your company.