Top 7 Managed IT Services Myths
March 7th, 2018 by admin
Top 7 Managed IT Services Myths
More and more, companies are enjoying the advantages of working with Managed Service Providers (MSPs). Spending more time and resources on solving strategic IT business issues is one of the key drivers. Even so, many companies are still reluctant to “hand over the reins.” In many cases the reluctance is rooted in myths, some of which may have been true in the early years of the MSP market, but no longer. For your benefit, I have addressed 7 of those myths about MSPs:
Myth #1: Outsourcing an MSP will make us more vulnerable to cyber threats.
False: Small to Medium Businesses typically underestimate the vulnerability of their systems. Many SMB’s easily fall behind staying current with security patches, regulations, application updates, and configuration changes while tending to day-to-day issues. At the same time, bad actors are continually developing new attack strategies to take advantage of your vulnerabilities. The #1 priority of any MSP is keep all your systems current, clean, and secure. This not only minimizes security risk, but down time in general. MSP’s like ProTelesis also have the expertise to implement and manage security best practices across your business. This said, there is no “silver bullet”, no one can offer 100% protection, but we can lower the odds of a successful attack dramatically and keep them there.
Myth #2: Managed Services Providers will replace your current IT staff.
False: We are here to aid and augment your existing staff, not replace it. When partnering with an MSP, you gain full access to a highly trained staff of engineers and monitoring technology that can be at your side day or night, enabling your current staff to spend less time on break/fixes and more timed on business performance and productivity issues.
Myth #3: It’s too much work managing an outside partner.
False: Quite the opposite actually. Having a partner like ProTelesis handling certain aspects of your IT gives you more time to focus on business critical projects. When something does go wrong, you always have someone there 24/7 to pick up the slack and get things back on track with minimal effort and detailed notes for the future reference.
Myth #4: MSP’s are extremely expensive.
False: Under a “Break/Fix” model this may be true as you would simply be paying for hourly services with no outcome or strategic based incentive in mind. An MSP relies on a strategy of minimizing customer down time. We are highly incented to prevent issues from occurring since our fees are fixed. Our profit comes from proactively keeping you up and running, not from reactively fixing problems.
Industry wide, Managed Services can provide on average a 40% ROI. On the flip side, managing your own IT requires additional investment in both technology and in-house staff. That technology can be expensive and the skilled IT resources not only expensive, but very hard to find.
Myth #5: No local help desk support, or access to support in non-business hours.
False: This is actually more likely to happen with your own in-house staff than with a true MSP like ProTelesis. In your current in-house scenario, what happens on Saturday when your “on call” technical resource for the weekend gets tied up for any number of reasons. That usually happens just as you start working on your presentation due on Monday and your VPN goes down and/or your laptop crashes. Well, in an MSP scenario, your help is available 24/7/365, and we don’t just have one resource on call, we have an entire team to address those issues and make sure you meet your deadline.
Myth #6: Infrastructure must be ready to go.
False: The fact is, most companies don’t have their IT in tip-top shape. Their strategic initiatives lag behind due to lack of IT resources and/or break/fixes consuming their time. When we do our discovery and create your “run book”, we expect there will be work to be done, this is common. Our due diligence and onboarding processes require us to make you aware of the current state of your systems and the “best practices” that need to be applied to get you to an efficient manageable state. It’s all part of the process.
Myth #7: All MSPs are the same.
This is DEFINITELY FALSE. They are all different with different niches, support levels, and expertise. You have to do your research and find out what is best for your business.
These myths have held many companies back from productive and beneficial partnerships with MSPs. Don’t let them stop you from reaping the benefits we have to offer. If you are interested in learning more about how you can take advantage of our Managed IT Services and focusing your efforts more productively, let’s talk. In the meantime, please browse our MSP solutions here on our website for more details on ProTelesis and our services or email gklausner@xtelesis.com.
About the Author
Gary Klausner is an Account Executive at ProTelesis Corporation and a seasoned veteran IT and Unified Communications solutions provider. With over two decades of broad-range experience, Gary works with companies to solve business operations problems in the following key areas Cybersecurity and Data Networking, Managed IT Services, Voice and Video IP Communications (UC), and Carrier Services. Contact: gklausner@xtelesis.com or call 650-239-1446.
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