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Managed IT services are beneficial for small and medium enterprises as they are practical and help businesses save a lot of money they can use for other purposes. However, not many know that managed IT services can help small business owners execute flawless growth strategies and scale together.
In today’s blog post, we’ll cover the essence of managed IT. We’ll also discuss how it helps small businesses grow, including improving client relations, giving access to new trending technologies, immediate scalability and the ability to handle more projects.
What is managed IT service?
Managed services are the go-to option for business owners who can’t afford (financially or time-wise) to hire an entire internal IT team to run the tech part of their business.
They are also the go-to option for organisations with existing in-house IT teams with limited resources or time due to ongoing projects. IT professionals from an MSP can also fill vacant positions free due to an unexpected leave of absence, sickness or other reasons.
What do IT providers do?
Managed IT providers take care of business tasks related to information technology and can provide a wide range of services, including on-premise or remote technical support. They can plan, install, set up and configure on-premise equipment and hardware, purchase and manage cloud storage, virtual machines and servers, or work on hybrid solutions.
How do managed IT services work?
If you are planning to grow your business and are looking for managed IT services, you might wonder how it will work. The early stages of collaboration with MSPs will be highlighted by a thorough assessment of the business and an audit of existing IT systems to get valuable insight into the current business state, environment and goals.
The next stage of the work process will continue with creating a strategy, prioritising tasks and aligning them with the specific business profile. A knowledgeable and honest provider should inform you that results won’t happen overnight and set a timeline and key performance indicators to measure business success instead.
After completing the goal and KPI setting, the service provider can purchase necessary subscription plans or hardware, install and set up software and hardware and create an entirely new IT infrastructure. However, end-to-end services continue with continuous management, remote monitoring, development and support services.
Benefits of managed IT services
Managed IT companies are a very cost-effective, scalable and flexible solution for SMEs. They offer countless benefits for medium and small-business owners looking to expand their business and increase their revenues.
We outlined some of the main advantages below:
- Various types of support (on-premise, remote, hybrid, etc.)
- Data integrity maintenance
- Increased uptime and reduced downtime
- Increased IT efficiency
- Optimised IT infrastructure
- Tailored IT strategy
- Analysis and evaluation
- Streamlined decision making
- Access to industry best practices and newest technologies
- Software and hardware support and management
- Fewer tasks for internal IT departments
- More resources to develop products and services.
Better client relations
Customer expectations
One of the ways managed IT services accelerate small business growth is by creating better client relations. Today’s customer base is very tech oriented and uses various digital devices and platforms to research and purchase the best products. Customers are not easily impressed as their expectations are pretty high.
Changing the status quo
Large companies can afford high-tech and expensive digital technology, thus attracting a more significant part of the target market. Managed IT services help small businesses change the status quo and build strong and long-lasting relationships by significantly improving the customer experience.
Digital solutions
A structured and clear IT strategy can help your business create technical yet user-friendly and reliable processes that streamline the customer journey. Meeting and exceeding your current customers’ expectations regarding digitisation and online security is fundamental to your growth strategy. Small business success heavily depends on impressed customers ready to return and share your brand on social media.
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Access to newer, updated technology
The challenge for small businesses
One of the biggest challenges for small businesses is the lack of resources regarding access to new and updated technology. For example, a new business can rarely afford to buy expensive software solutions for tasks that they must execute once monthly. The limitation in budget and experienced IT professionals is a significant obstacle on the way to business growth.
New technology solutions
However, with managed IT services, small organisations can get unlimited access to the newest trending and most reliable technology solutions for a minimal price. Typically, MSPs have multiple contracts with large companies that sell software, hardware, cloud-computing platforms, storage and everything else you might need for growing your business.
Latest trends and best practices
In addition, you get professional IT services provided by experienced industry experts. They have up-to-date knowledge regarding the latest technology trends and best practices which they will apply to your business plan. Such experts are constantly upgrading their expertise by visiting industry-related networking events and conferences and gaining new unique perspectives.
Scalable
For example, a scalable IT infrastructure is crucial if you want your business to grow. Getting used to comfortable software might play a bad joke on most businesses as the technology grows old and is replaced by newer and better solutions. Your business model should focus on scalable and flexible services, systems and infrastructure as your business grows.
Instant scalability
A successful business is defined by its ability to grow and scale, and as we know, many small companies fail to think ahead and invest in scalable solutions. Luckily, instant scalability is possible and available through managed IT service providers.
Get IT experts immediately
If you need to scale your IT infrastructure and technology quickly, you don’t have to suffer the loss of customers or competitive advantage but turn to a managed provider instead. You don’t have to engage your HR department to find employees in the IT sector as they are already available and ready to help you.
In case you already have an in-house IT department, but your team’s time or knowledge is limited, you don’t have to spend the extra cash and take out of their precious time into additional education or training.
With managed IT, you have all the knowledge you need at your fingertips. You can get all the extra human resources you need for your rapid growth.
Scale your IT
You’ll inevitably need to scale your IT solutions to turn your company into a big business and a recognisable brand. You can seamlessly do so by working with an MSP who can quickly add on servers, software, platforms and applications instead of you.
What comprises a great service is the ability to scale up and down according to your current needs, which might change due to seasonal flow or economic growth.
Are you wondering how you might need to scale your IT infrastructure or solutions?
Here are some examples of what a managed service provider has to offer in this regard:
- Upgrade or optimise on-premise or cloud storage.
- Upgrade network infrastructure and equipment.
- Monitor limitations in equipment or license terms of use.
- Improve system performance and availability.
- Reduce downtime and increase uptime.
- Ensure excellent customer service by deploying appropriate software and hardware.
- Reduce unnecessary spending and optimise IT budget.
MSPs will improve the scalability of your network. They can help with things like storage upgrades, cloud storage, and upgrading network equipment to grow with your company.
Some will even monitor your equipment and licenses and inform you of when you are reaching your limit. This allows you to take a proactive approach and find a scalability solution that best benefits your business.
Managing technology resources as an organisation evolves and grows is an incredibly challenging aspect of running a business. Overestimating needs can lead to wasteful spending of critical funds. Underestimating can leave you without adequate support for employees and customers.
Managed IT services help simplify this balancing act by supplying what you might need based on your business demands. Whatever you need more or less of, MSPs scale your service to accommodate.
Handle more projects
Another way managed services providers can help you accelerate growth is by providing you with an opportunity to handle more projects.
Optimise your workload
First off, managed IT experts help you free up from your in-house IT team’s time. By decreasing their workload and transferring some of their tasks to an external unit, they will be able to focus on high-priority tasks and ongoing IT projects. Consequently, this will lead to better performance, met deadlines, positive results and retention of current customers.
Take on more projects
In case you plan on acquiring new customers, a managed IT service will take care of your existing IT infrastructure, software and network and make it possible to scale. This means you can grow your systems without worrying about taking on new projects and potential customers.