Choosing the Right Managed Services Provider Partner

Every day IT teams are being asked to do more with less. Yet managing and maintaining your own IT infrastructure and services can be daunting. Because of the challenges that come with monitoring and managing your own systems, an increasing number of businesses are turning towards partnering with managed service providers (MSPs) to either supplement their team or completely outsource their infrastructure management.

But it’s not just IT teams that have had to evolve. MSP partners have had to evolve as well to meet these new customer demands. In the past, cost savings were seen as the primary benefit of MSPs. Now cost benefits are considered table stakes, and customers are looking for more benefits like generating revenue and helping the organization run more efficiently. Even security has evolved from being considered a roadblock to using MSPs to a reason for outsourcing.

So, what’s really driving organizations to outsource?

•  Reducing and controlling operating costs. The demonstrated cost savings of outsourcing are widely accepted as one of the primary reasons to consider managed services. The reduction of CapEx and OpEx is also key, as outsourcing removes the need to purchase physical hardware and space to keep the hardware, as well as the maintenance costs.
•  Gaining access to world-class capabilities around the clock: Outsourced IT specializes in managing and maintaining your IT needs and is able to service those needs 24/7 while going beyond what an internal team could do.
•  Freeing internal resources. Your business probably isn’t IT, so IT maintenance tasks often get in the way of more strategic projects. Managed services can help alleviate this burden and help maximize your IT team’s time.
•  Latest technology. With all the different technologies like cloud, security and networking, you have access to the best in the field, along with the latest and greatest technology to give your company the edge it needs to compete in a crowded marketplace.
•  Streamlining or increasing efficiency. Using a MSP partner to augment your in-house IT staff can be a great way to increase the efficiency of your business operations. No matter what arises, a MSP is there to pick up the slack when needed, allowing your business to run smoothly and your employees to focus on core business needs.
•  Shared risk. MSPs heavily invest in the most resilient systems that handle disruption better than less powerful systems can. Backed by robust SLAs, MSP partners guarantee the safety of your data, in ways an on-premises solution cannot.

Managed Services to Help You Grow

According to Gartner, many IT organizations report being overwhelmed with business demand, unable to meet rapidly-changing business requirements and struggle to retain the IT talent needed to face modern IT challenges. With the right partner, IT can leverage managed services and outsource complex IT tasks such as security, network administration, database management and disaster recovery, to get the most out of their technology while delivering maximum value to the business.

The proliferation of technologies like cloud and mobility across different industry verticals has powered the growth of the managed services in the market. Managed services provide a bridge, connecting today’s rapidly growing enterprise to new levels of operational functionality, efficiency, security and growth.

So, you understand the benefits of managed services, but what should you look for in a managed services provider partner?