As the world of technologies is changing at a fast pace, it’s impossible to keep up without hiring top-notch IT support. From updating software to strengthening security, IT experts have become an integral part of any company’s function.
Discovering the best way to get top support can be tricky. While creating a small IT department may seem efficient, outsourcing comes with a variety of impressive advantages.
Let’s take a closer look at which options your company has, and the benefits of managed IT services can provide for the business.
3 IT Support Options
Which IT support choice is right for you?
- In-house IT team
- Traditional IT support
- Managed IT services
1. In-House IT Team
An in-house team can take care of the IT infrastructure, give actionable advice, maintain hardware and software, create disaster recovery plans, and much more.
However, no matter how big your IT department is, it’s nearly impossible to hire enough experts to address all the problems that may arise. You would also need to invest a substantial amount of money into their salaries, benefits, and education.
2. Traditional IT Support
A traditional IT support usually involves outsourcing IT issues when they arise. For example:
- Hardware breakdown
- Malware attack
- Software update
- Network problems
- User questions
It’s a reactive type of help geared toward fast problem-solving. However, such support doesn’t do anything to prevent problems or help your business grow. Additionally, such services generally come with high rates.
3. Managed IT Services
When you choose managed IT services, you get access to a big variety of experts in numerous IT niches. From hardware specialists to software developers, you can choose the team to work with depending on your needs.
By signing a contract with a top managed IT service provider, you get all-in-one 24/7 proactive and reactive support at a reasonable price. The pillars of top-notch managed IT service providers are:
a) Quick Reaction
 These experts are always one call or message away.
b) Deep Involvement
Managed IT specialists become a part of your team, learning ins and outs of your business.
c) Strategic Planning
You receive actionable advice about tweaking your IT infrastructure to stay on top of your game.
d) Unlimited Expertise
With managed IT services, you can always count on finding the right expert for the task.
What are other benefits of managed IT services?
Benefit #1: Saving Money
The financial component of hiring IT support is always highly important. With in-house teams, you need to pay a salary to each expert and still outsource some of your issues to third parties. By choosing traditional support, you generally face high rates.
Managed IT support providers focus on giving you all the necessary options at a reasonable price. You can choose payment plans and types depending on the services you plan to use.
Fully Managed IT Services
The managed IT support team is fully responsible for your IT infrastructure and maintenance, from security to system performance optimization. This is one of the main key benefits of managed IT services for companies.
Partially Managed IT Services
You can choose which managed IT services you need the company to provide. An in-house team can handle some of your IT issues while you outsource others to an IT service provider.
Benefit #2: Proactive Support
With technologies dominating the way we do business, IT support is much more than fixing, updating, and tuning. Today, an efficient IT team is constantly on a lookout for ways to improve your business by taking full advantage of the latest innovations.
While an in-house IT team can offer proactive support, it’s likely to keep these experts away from doing other important tasks. Traditional IT support teams generally don’t specialize in proactive measures.
Managed IT service teams focus on proactive support, helping your business stay one step ahead of the completion by:
- Taking preventive measures
- Arranging disaster recovery planning
- Doing industry research
- Offering expert advice
- Researching the competition
Benefit #3: Continuous Monitoring
Downtime is one of the worst problems faced by many companies. With the number of cyberattacks growing, the lack of regular monitoring could lead to severe consequences.
While an in-house IT team could monitor your business 24/7, you would have to face substantial extra expenses. Meanwhile, traditional IT support usually doesn’t offer this option at all.
Another one of the benefits of Managed IT services is the round-the-clock monitoring of your company’s IT structure to react timely to anything that could lead to downtime. Such continuous monitoring can help with a timely discovery of:
- Cyberattacks
- Hardware breakdowns
- Software problems
- Internal security issues
- Power outages
Benefit #4: Efficient Disaster Recovery Planning
Businesses are highly dependent on data and information technologies. When both disappear due to an unexpected disaster, a company must get back into the saddle before its reputation suffers beyond repair. That’s where a disaster recovery plan comes in.
An in-house team may create a disaster recovery plan, but maintaining and executing it could be too taxing. If you depend on traditional IT support to fix such an issue, you are likely to face significant downtime.
One of the key benefits of managed IT services is the ability to create a top-notch disaster recovery plan and execute it immediately if the disaster strikes.
Benefits #5: Leveling the Playing Field
Many small businesses struggle to keep up with the competition due to the lack of proper IT support. These companies simply can’t afford a large team of in-house IT experts like their larger competitors can.
Working with a managed IT service provider allows your company to level the playing field and enjoy unlimited growth and development opportunities. Gaining a competitive advantage with information technologies can bring your business to a new level.
Does Your Business Need Managed IT Services?
If you can’t afford a large IT department but want to work with top-notch experts, managed IT support may be an option to consider. Outsourcing your IT-related tasks to a team of top specialists can help you gain a competitive edge while keeping your business in excellent shape.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of managed IT services for your company, please have a chat with one of our experts right now.
