What Does Managed Service Provider (MSP) stand for?
“A managed service provider (MSP) is a sort of IT service organization that gives server, arrange, and concentrated applications to end clients and associations. These applications are facilitated and managed by the service provider.”
As you search the internet for information about help with your small business’ IT needs, you will invariably run into the abbreviation MSP, which is short for an IT Support company known as an IT Managed Service Provider. This blog post will explore what this term encompasses and summarize the valuable services an MSP can provide your company.
What exactly is an MSP?
I want to first let you know, there are multiple MSP abbreviations however, in this instance we are talking about an IT related MSP this is called a managed service providers or a managed network services provider that offer services IT services in an all-encompassing way.
In the IT world an MSP refers to an IT Support company that coordinates and runs (manages) all or part of a business’ IT systems and networks. Sometimes this includes VoIP phones service and print services. Managed Service Providers MSP’s remotely manage various companies systems and IT assets at the customers’ location, remote IT Support or at a data center like AWS or Microsoft Azure Cloud, which is normally operated in various Data-centers throughout the world. MSP services can provide a range of MSP services from the monitoring of your IT network to being responsible for all repairs, updates and patches, as well as providing new software, hardware, infrastructure, cloud services, and staff resources.
The service agreement between the MSP (Managed Services Provider) and the company will clarify the various services included, in the offering at a flat fee per month. Working with an MSP is completely different than internal staff onsite or to using a pay by the hour IT company for Break fix. (See Managed Services). This IT Support model is often referred to as “break-fix,” as the business only contacts the IT company when problems arise or things break. This approach is generally penny-wise, but pound foolish–many costly issues can be avoided with proactive monitoring and prompt resolution as opposed to waiting and reacting to a problem once it arises or is deeply entrenched in your network. Reference
In general the MSP provides outsourced IT services for companies in an effort to make their IT more effective and efficient, so that companies can focus their efforts on their core operations. MSPs also serve as important partners to their clients as they enable them to reap the benefits of the latest technology without researching it and purchasing it themselves. In addition, companies can utilize the expertise of their MSP to better strategize the most effective use of IT to meet their business objectives.
What are some of the important benefits gained through using an MSP?
More Efficient, Reliable, and Scalable IT Operations
With an expert and proven staff and state of the art technological infrastructure, a trusted MSP like Network Depot can dramatically improve the efficiency of your company’s overall IT operations. Because of their focus on and expertise with cloud-based services, an IT Managed Service Provider can provide your company with a wide variety of IT options that are also scalable to meet growth-related needs. In short, they can recommend and implement the specific IT services your company will need currently and in the future.
Competent MSPs also offer itsupport247 Help Desk service, improving the reliability of your company’s IT operations. Employees will see a dramatic improvement in IT ticket resolution compared to waiting for help from overburdened in-house tech resources.
An important service that MSPs provide to improve IT operations is called Performance Monitoring. Through the use of a high-end firewall, agents, and other tools an MSP will proactively manage and oversee your IT network’s performance. The MSP will know when your IT performance is being adversely affected or will be impacted in the near future with detrimental results. For example, an MSP will know immediately when your internet is operating slowly or is down and will quickly take the necessary steps to resolve the situation to minimize any disruption to your activities.
Significant IT Cost Savings and Improved IT Inventory Management/Budgeting
Importantly, with the reduction of IT infrastructure and maintenance costs and the cutting or reduction of dedicated employee resources for IT, an MSP often provides substantial IT cost savings in both the short and long run. With the use of an IT MSP that offers flat fee plans, your company can more easily get a handle on its overall IT inventory management and you will be able to predict and prepare accurate monthly and annual IT budgets.
Freeing Up Dedicated Resources and Help with Strategy
With a reliable MSP, you can reassign dedicated IT and other resources to carry out the many different tasks your company requires. With an MSP as your IT partner and advisor, your company can more effectively strategize how to utilize your IT assets to achieve your business goals. Their proven expertise can help guide you on how to most effectively utilize IT within the budgetary restrictions you have.
Cutting-Edge Cybersecurity
Nothing strikes greater fear for many small businesses than the nightmare scenario of their network being hacked and sensitive data being corrupted or stolen. A reliable IT Managed Service Provider offers your company layers of the latest cybersecurity protection through firewalls, applications, monitoring, filtering, and other protective measures. MSPs have the technology and expertise to keep hackers out or to quickly rid the system of their presence if they manage to penetrate their layered defenses. As noted below, even if cybercriminals do somehow overcome these formidable cybersecurity defenses, an MSP will also provide robust back-ups of a company’s critical data and applications to ensure the continuity of business operations.
Updated IT and Compliance Requirements
Competent MSPs will ensure that your company’s IT network and applications are regularly updated to the latest and most effective versions to meet your specific needs. An IT Managed Service Provider’s state of the art technology portfolio is also continuously being used to benefit your company without the need for you to research and implement it yourself. You can also rest assured that all industry-specific security and other compliance requirements are accounted for and being met.
Peace of Mind Through Back-Ups
Through its emphasis on the important services of Back-ups, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity an MSP offers your company what it wants most: peace of mind! With these services your management team and employees can rest easy at night knowing that all your important data and business applications are comprehensively backed-up at a secure remote location. In the event of a harmful man-made or natural event, an MSP can quickly restore operations with backed-up data and applications and ensure that your business will not suffer the consequences from costly downtime.
You can also consider this benefit in terms of cybersecurity. In the unlikely event that a cybercriminal overcomes the thorough cybersecurity measures provided by an IT Managed Service Provider, your data and applications can quickly be restored. This means that your company will not suffer from downtime because of corrupted data nor ever have to pay any costly fees if your company is infected by Ransomware. With the comprehensive back-up services provided by a trusted MSP, your entire IT network can be quickly restarted and restored in the event any calamity occurs.
Now that you know what an MSP or IT Managed Service Provider is and some important benefits they can offer your company, make it a point to contact one soon. An IT MSP will be your trusted partner who will work with you to take care of your IT needs, so that you can focus on your company’s core objectives. Your small business will be happy with the results!
- Cost saving and easier Budgeting – Most small and medium businesses are finding it very expensive to employ competent IT personnel to run their IT operations. However, outsourcing the services not only cuts down those costs but also provides predictable monthly costs to cover the entire service. Therefore, using MSP, you can make solid procurement to cover the entire service.
- Access to the Experts – With managed services from a reputable firm, even small organizations can access highly qualified personnel without doing the hard work of recruiting them. Additionally, the teams from the MSP usually possess a wide range experience in the field of IT, therefore giving your business the best services.
- Proactive Support and Quick Response time – The service providers are specialized and dedicated 100% to the task of your IT systems. Therefore, they can offer a quick and timely response in case of a performance drop in your system or failure.
- Ready infrastructure – Codes are used to configure Cloud infrastructure. In-house developers can take months to develop the codes from scratch to configure all the applications of an organization. However, MSPs have libraries of such codes ready. Only a little tweaking is done to fit the client’s individual requirements. This means MSPs can deploy solutions much quicker saving a lot of time and money for a business.
- Better Business Focus – Managed services help to take off stress from the entrepreneurs giving them peace of mind. With the IT infrastructure issues handled by experts, they can focus on the business core competencies and strategies.
To sum it all, you need to consider hiring a reputable Managed Service Provider to ensure that your IT infrastructure is in the right hands. This will give a business more time to focus on growth and stability while receiving the best advice from a highly resilient team.
