Content updated on 06/05/2024
Regardless of industry, clientele, or scale, your business needs reliable digital services. From your internet connection and network services to cybersecurity and beyond, these services define the way you function and serve your customers.
Our managed services model may represent the ideal way to ensure your organization receives a suitable level of performance from its digital resources. Services from a managed service provider (MSP) don’t require support from your internal team. This helps you and your people focus on core competencies and business operations, enhancing customer satisfaction through improved service delivery.
This shifting of labor to an MSP can save your organization money while also boosting productivity. The suites of services offered by these external partners are carefully overseen and optimized to provide a hands-off experience, ensuring your network infrastructure is managed with a proactive approach.
When you choose a multi-service provider, you can combine numerous essential functions into a single contract. Such a synergistic bundle can deliver further effectiveness and efficiency to the way your company receives key digital services. But before delving into the details, it’s worth starting at the beginning — what is an MSP and what does such a business offer?
What Is a Managed Service Provider?
A managed service provider is a company that works with you on a contract basis, providing fully featured services and supporting them with its own staff. This means when you purchase your business-grade internet connection through an MSP, for instance, everything from installation to day-to-day monitoring and troubleshooting will be handled by the provider, not your internal IT team.
An MSP will provide its offerings according to a service level agreement, which clearly stipulates the level of performance you are guaranteed to receive. Dealing with an MSP provides peace of mind because, from the beginning of the engagement, you have a clear picture of what you’ve signed up for. This is especially crucial when it comes to managed security services, as cyber security is a top priority for businesses of all sizes.
MSP contracts include:
- Installation and maintenance of physical equipment: Rather than choosing and installing your own IT hardware, you can turn these tasks over to an MSP. A managed IT service provider will work with top original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to procure the right technology solutions for you, and then provide the personnel to maintain, upgrade and repair the gear as required. This takes the pressure off your organization to provide internal staff to deal with the specialized assets.
- Upkeep and performance monitoring: Keeping services running up to a certain level of quality and reliability requires hands-on attention. With an MSP contract, all these tasks become the responsibility of the provider’s team, further lessening the burden on your personnel. The MSP’s team can keep the service running up to high standards of performance, ensuring your company has the IT capabilities necessary to serve customers and keep the team productive.
- Remote support and troubleshooting: Problems happen in IT — disruptions due to internal or external factors can bring operations to a halt. The only question is, who is responsible for fixing these issues, or getting ahead of them proactively? When you work with a managed IT service provider, all these resolution efforts are jobs for the MSP’s team. This provides peace of mind and the understanding that there will always be someone on call to maintain your offerings, offering technical support and network management around the clock.
Any events that would put a strain on your IT team or demand additional time and attention from your own personnel are handled externally when you work with a managed service provider. Even as your needs grow and change over time, MSPs can keep up with these demands. Your customers ultimately benefit, as you can keep serving them reliably, enhancing customer satisfaction through consistent service delivery.
What Kind of Services Can Your MSP Offer?
There are MSPs for every type of business IT service imaginable, collectively adding up to a full suite of essential technologies. This encompasses:
- Commercial internet connectivity.
- Networking and wide-area networks (WAN).
- Wi-Fi.
- Unified communications (UCaaS).
- Cybersecurity.
Each of these services plays a crucial role in supporting remote work and workforce management, ensuring that your contingent workforce remains productive and secure, regardless of their location.
The integration of artificial intelligence and remote monitoring tools by MSPs into their service offerings represents a significant advancement in managed services, allowing for even more efficient and proactive management of your information technology resources.
The key value proposition of working with a managed IT service provider combines a few discrete benefits. These include budgetary value, simplicity of offerings, and overall performance. For small businesses, the MSP solution is particularly attractive, as it allows them to enjoy enterprise-grade IT experiences without the need to build a department in-house. This is critical for businesses that need to scale their technology solutions alongside their growth, without incurring prohibitive costs.
Multi-Service Providers: Combine Offerings for Extra Value
If you’re searching for a variety of services, your best bet may be a multi-service provider. Such a versatile partner can assist with numerous service offerings at once, putting together a customized suite to suit your business’s needs and react to its existing situation. A leadership team looking to streamline their technology solutions should consider the benefits of engaging with the right MSP, one that understands the unique challenges and opportunities within their specific industry, such as financial services or healthcare.
Why Work with an MSP for Critical Business Services?
Combine all the advantages and possibilities of working with an MSP for your professional services, and the value of the model becomes clear. Specific advantages for your company can include refocusing internal efforts on core competencies, achieving predictable, affordable spending levels, delivering the experience employees and customers expect and future-proofing to deal with growth and expansion.
There’s an MSP offering available for companies of any size and industry. Picking a solution tailored to your needs can put you on the path to value. For an example of MSP contracts in action, see the value a multi-service provider brings to commercial property managers through a detailed case study featured in our recent posts.
Ready to Start Your MSP Journey?
Whether you’re outfitting a single-location company with IT hardware and services, building consistent infrastructure across multiple facilities, or implementing services for a multi-tenant facility that services client firms, an MSP can help you.
Small organizations and large companies can both take significant benefits from MSP contracts. The small business value case is especially strong, as a managed IT service provider can deliver an enterprise-grade IT experience without the need to build a department in-house.
Take a close look at your current IT spending and performance levels, and consider your options. A tailored and custom-quoted suite of offerings from a multi-service provider could take your organization to the next level.
Start Your Journey Here!
