5 Benefits of Managed IT Services

managed IT services benefitsIf you’re a business owner who’s also trying to handle all of your own IT needs, at some point, you’ll want to look for another option.

It can be exhausting to wear the IT management hat along with the several others you’re juggling. Plus, frequently fixing your IT problems –  especially if it’s not your forte – takes you away from your primary job duties.

How much more productive (and profitable) could you be if you could hand over the management and maintenance of your IT? 

As a managed IT services provider (MSP), The KR Group has seen many small- and medium-sized businesses stuck in the cycle of solving their own IT problems that cost them valuable time and money. 

When you sign up for managed IT services, you’ll get the experience and expertise of high-level engineers, which often aren’t accessible for smaller businesses. 

Plus, here are some additional benefits you can expect:

  1. Managed IT services are always available.
  2. MSPs have a collective knowledge.
  3. Managed IT services are cost-effective.
  4. MSPs do the recruitment for you.
  5. MSPs provide IT thought leadership.

The below information will give you a better idea of what you can expect with managed IT services. However, if you’re looking for a longer, more in-depth explanation of managed IT services, check out our ultimate guide.

Managed IT Services Are Always Available

Have you ever taken a few PTO days and come back and been completely overwhelmed with everything that fell behind? When you’re the only one who knows how to do your job, vacation time is really just putting that week of work on top of the next.  

As the go-to person for IT problems, you’re all too familiar with this scenario.

Managed IT services offer a way out. 

MSPs hire a team of engineers to work on all of their customers’ problems. Vacation time is staggered, so there are always enough engineers clocked in to resolve your urgent IT issues. Plus, MSPs staff enough engineers to cover unexpected absences, too. 

In other words, managed IT services give you 24/7/365 access to IT support, and you don’t have to coordinate availability to make that a reality. 

This makes managed services an even better option than an in-house IT department, a common alternative to managed services. 

Most small- and medium-sized businesses only have the budget to hire one full-time IT person. If you go that route, your IT manager will inevitably call in sick, take a vacation, and need a personal day. And until they return, your IT issues pile up.

Again, your assigned MSP engineer will be out of the office from time to time, but since they’re part of a team, you can still request and receive support. 

The team aspect of managed services also prevents your IT engineer from being overwhelmed by the requests that piled up while they were gone. With an MSP, you have a pool of resources at your disposal to keep your IT systems running smoothly every day.

MSPs Have a Collective Knowledge

To ensure an in-house engineer can address all levels of problems your IT system may encounter, you’d have to hire an extremely skilledmanaged IT services benefits engineer. Here are several skills  your engineer should have:

  • Windows and Mac operating systems
  • Network troubleshooting and set up
  • Virus and malware removal
  • Antivirus installation
  • Voice and email set up and troubleshooting
  • Writing and troubleshooting script
  • Troubleshooting and configuring web applications
  • IT stack set-up, configuration, and migrations
  • Network and security solutions
  • Routing protocols
  • Configuring hardware platforms

Some of the items on the above list are within the wheelhouse of tier 1 or 2 (entry-level) engineers. 

However, a handful of those components, such as network and security solutions, routing protocols, and configuring hardware platforms, require a more experienced engineer to address them. And that experience costs money. 

If your network goes haywire, you need an IT engineer who can fix it. However, these high-level problems are typically infrequent. As a result, you’re paying for access to knowledge that you’ll seldom use. 

What’s the advantage of using an MSP instead? 

An MSP has the resources to hire multiple highly-skilled and knowledgeable IT engineers. Since this knowledge base is shared among all of the MSP’s customers, you don’t have to pay any extra for access to this level of engineer. 

By signing a managed IT services contract, you can work with an engineer who can resolve any problem you may have. 

Managed Services Are Cost-Effective

For the amount of expertise you receive with managed IT services, you’ll have significant cost savings. Most managed IT service plans cost as much as the salary and benefits of a tier-1 or tier-2 engineer. 

But as you’ll remember from the section above, that still leaves an important knowledge gap in your IT department. 

To hire an IT engineer who can address all of the issues in your IT department, you’re going to pay somewhere between $100,000 to $150,000 annually. And this doesn’t include the cost of employee benefits.

According to the US Department of Labor, the average employer pays around $24,000 per employee for paid leave, bonuses, overtime, insurance, retirement, and other legally required benefits.

If you’re like most small- and medium-sized businesses, adding up those numbers feels like a bit of a gut punch.  

Managed IT services are a more palatable option for your IT budget. In general, you can expect to pay around $150 per user per month. So, a year of managed IT services typically starts around $45,000 for a 25-user business but will vary depending on your size and needs.

And this expense covers all of the benefits we talked about above.

MSPs Do the Recruitment for You

managed IT services benefitsIf the cost isn’t prohibitive in your IT plan, you’ll likely find yourself hindered when it comes to recruitment. 

To find someone with the mastery of the skills you’ll need in an in-house IT engineer, you’re going to have to search far and wide to fill the position. 

Recruitment also costs more money, and the elusiveness of the right candidate can draw out the process and rack up a bill. At some point, you’ll need to decide if you’ll hire someone who is just good enough or continue paying for the search process.

Managed IT services have an advantage in this area as well. 

Without having to spend any additional money, a reliable MSP will assign you an engineer who is a good match for your company. They’ll work closely with you, get to know your unique problems, what programs you rely on, and your company individually.

Even though you won’t choose the engineer from the pool of candidates, you’ll still end up with an engineer best suited for your company’s needs. But the process doesn’t cost you any additional time or money. 

Not only does an MSP provide the most for your money, but we’re also easy to find. 

MSPs Provide Thought Leadership

You don’t have to be an expert in technology to know it’s always changing. 

There seems to always be a better solution or newer process to more effectively reach your IT goals. But staying on top of these trends takes a specific set of knowledge, not to mention additional time. 

Compared to you, the business owner, or even a single IT manager, MSPs have more of both of these resources. For this reason, an important yet commonly overlooked benefit of managed IT services is the thought leadership a contract can provide. 

In between resolving customer issues, MSPs are researching ways to help your business make the most of current technology. Reputable MSPs should continually research solutions and processes to enhance your managed IT services contract. 

Where to Start your Managed Services Journey

You could draft a job description for a highly skilled and knowledgeable IT engineer, pay to post it online, and spend time (and money) onmanaged IT services benefits the recruiting process to ultimately end up with an expensive line item in your budget. 

However, if the process of hiring your own in-house engineer sounds difficult and expensive, choosing an MSP provides a better, simpler option. 

You’ll have access to a team of engineers, so you don’t have to worry about going without IT support when someone is out of the office. Plus, that team of engineers brings collective knowledge to your organization to solve even the most complex IT issues. 

Beyond help-desk support, MSPs also provide thought leadership to help steer your business’s IT into the future. 

The most significant benefit is that managed services are the most cost-effective way to access all of these components. 

Still not convinced managed IT services could be the right move for your business’s technology? Check out how they compare to other IT support options in our free IT Solutions Quick Guide.

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