Starting a business is a lot of work. It requires determination, learning, and most importantly, the right resources. Improving your product, and managing marketing, sales, client relationships, accounting, IT, and everything else can be difficult. Handling it all by yourself is even more difficult and can leave gaps that impact your growth.
This reality makes it practical to outsource activities like IT to a Managed Services Provider (MSP). They can look after your your network and servers, email services, cloud solutions, data backups, cybersecurity, and more. A provider can take complex tasks off your plate and let you focus on your business.
Managed Service Providers, or MSPs, are IT support companies that are bring together a group of IT experts. Their teams usually include several professionals who are experts in different IT-related fields and solutions. They manage the services that a business outsources to them. There are various managed services that can be outsourced, with a couple of the most common being print and IT services. Outsourcing IT solutions to an MSP in Eugene helps to reduce costs, boost productivity, and streamline processes.
An MSP can share their experience and bring the latest technology solutions to your organization. They will assess all your requirements at the very beginning, then suggest solutions that will maximize productivity and profitability at your organization. An MSP will also address the shortfalls in your current processes that you may not be aware of. MSPs align themselves with the company’s objectives and then build customized solutions for your startup.
Working with an MSP will allow you to set a budget for IT solutions based on your requirements and available cash flow. You decide what level of support and management you want for network administration, cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and other services, working within your set budget. Most MSPs will charge an onboarding fee to help cover the costs for any initial labor involved with getting your business set up for managed services, then a set monthly fee for ongoing services. This ends up being a win-win for the MSP and you, since it empowers and enables the MSP to make sure your technology is working for you, always on, up to date, and ready when you are. Outsourcing also reduces the dependence on hiring and managing in-house IT personnel, which can save a significant amount of cash over the life of the managed services relationship.
Downtime can severely impact any business. MSPs have dedicated support staff who help solve issues as they come up, and even better than that, they work to prevent issues so they never happen in the first place. Big bonus if you find an MSP that offers 24/7 support! Many of them do, and while it isn’t always included in your set monthly fee for managed services, knowing it’s available if you ever need it, gives real peace of mind.
MSPs also have working relationships with technology solution providers like Microsoft. Working with an MSP that has attained partner status with a company like Microsoft may mean you have priority access to their support channels, and your MSP will even handle the coordination for you! Almost like you don’t have to lift a finger…except to dial your MSP.
MSPs can manage the compliance requirements and regulations for your startup. They can secure the network at your organization and protect your data. Cybersecurity is a major compliance requirement in industry standards and government regulations.
Cybersecurity attacks can lead to loss of data – a violation of data privacy laws. MSPs can mitigate this problem by installing hardware and software like firewalls and multi-factor authentication on your network. This will protect your systems from attacks and keep your data protected.
In the initial phase of growth, the technology requirements of your organization can change rapidly. Your startup may need to migrate data to a new cloud system, improve compliance, offer new software solutions, etc. Without professional support, it can be difficult to determine what IT solutions your company needs. An MSP can help create an IT roadmap for your startup. An IT roadmap is a strategic technology plan for IT initiatives to meet the growing demands of your company.
Startups work in a highly competitive ecosystem, where operational efficiency and cost reduction play an important role. Adopting new technologies and setting yourself apart can help you stay ahead of the competition. Outsourcing IT reduces your human resources burden, offers highly-skilled technical resources, and provides a scalable and cost-effective solution. An MSP comes on board as a partner that will help you navigate your growing business to success.