Many in-house teams lack the bandwidth to maintain technology infrastructure and proactively address end-user issues. A qualified managed services partner can take on these tasks, freeing up team members to focus on strategic projects and future growth opportunities.
Virtualization
Whether cloud, bare metal, or software-based, virtualization changes how managed IT services are delivered. It allows organizations to use hardware more efficiently and provides a fantastic return on investment.
It saves on upfront equipment costs and cuts energy expenditures. It also makes it easier to back up data to a secondary site and faster to switch from one server to another during an outage or disaster. IT employees can spend less time on routine maintenance and more time on developing new products or improving customer service. They can also easily apply software updates to a virtual environment without disrupting the production system because they’re not installing and updating on a physical server-by-server basis.
According to Arctic IT, many small businesses need help balancing their need for innovative IT infrastructure and limited budgets. That’s why a growing number are turning to managed services. These providers will manage IT infrastructure, and other IT needs for a monthly fee, allowing you to scale your business without incurring the upfront costs of additional staff or IT assets.
Automation
Automation is becoming increasingly common in businesses of all sizes. It is best suited for logic-driven tasks and can complete these in a fraction of the time it would take an employee to perform them manually. This allows employees to focus on higher-value work, boosting morale and productivity.
Process automation is also useful for tasks requiring precise data and figures. Robots won’t misread a number or miss a letter the way humans might, and they can make 1,000 entries in the same amount of time it takes an administrator to do one. Small and mid-market companies need access to advanced technology like automation but only sometimes have the budget for a full-time IT team. Managed services providers offer a cost-effective solution by consolidating IT needs under a single managed umbrella. This can free up resources to invest in innovation and growth initiatives. It can also reduce overall costs by eliminating downtime and other unavoidable IT expenses.
Cloud
The need for remote work has accelerated the adoption of cloud technology. The most popular cloud solutions in 2023 are communication and collaboration tools such as unified communications-as-a-service, contact center-as-a-service, and communications-platform-as-a-service. These tools enable remote work and various productivity drivers, including streamlined document management, business intelligence collaboration, and customer engagement. Cloud allows IT teams to focus on the core of their business rather than deploying and maintaining infrastructure. It also allows businesses to reduce upfront costs using the pay-as-you-go model, where they only use what they need at any time. IT teams are already stretched thin, especially with the ongoing skills shortage and the rising upfront equipment costs. Managed service providers can help ease those pressures by providing access to top tech talent without the overhead of having them on the payroll. And they can provide the expertise needed to streamline IT systems and improve security.
Analytics
Analytics is one of the fastest-growing markets in enterprise software. The market has been accelerated even more during the COVID-19 pandemic, with analytics solutions helping businesses handle urgent, pandemic-related issues like forecasting demand, protecting at-risk employees, and navigating the turbulent “next normal.”
Many companies have taken advantage of managed services to access technology they would otherwise not be able to afford on their own. These services include prepackaged hardware, application software, and support, all sold with bundled pricing. For example, subscription-based cloud applications like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 are examples of managed services.
With the right MSP, you can save significant money by letting them handle your day-to-day IT needs. This frees up your internal resources to focus on the most business value areas. It also allows you to add or drop specialized skillsets as required without committing to expensive full-time staff.
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