Outsource IT! A Proven Formula to Accelerate Your Business

IT operations often consume a lot of management attention and staff hours, but typically do not help distinguish a company from its competitors. By utilizing a managed IT services provider (MSP), organizations can stay focused on their core business and activities that give them a competitive advantage.

Companies need to continually progress if they are to thrive. Introducing technology in support of new company products, services or operations can be difficult to manage alongside the demands of daily operations.

Partnering with an MSP helps shift the emphasis from operations, maintenance and problem-solving to thinking about how IT can be utilized most profitably or to the greatest benefit of the business. For example, during the COVID pandemic, secure, remote computing and the increased adoption of cloud services required specialized skills which were in short supply or did not exist in some IT departments.

Efficiency and Productivity Advantages

Chances are your organization tracks the efficiency and productivity of your service teams, including IT services. For optimal IT service performance and efficiency, several factors must be considered:

• Is the team driven by strategic leadership or is it tactical?
• Is the team aware of and properly trained on the latest technologies?
• Is the team utilizing automation to streamline tasks and processes?
• Are documented processes in place for the monitoring, management and remediation of the IT infrastructure?
• Is there a proper backup and disaster recovery in place and has it been tested?

The list goes on and on. A good MSP can help ensure that your mission-critical IT services are stable, protected and supported on a 24/7/365 basis. A strong MSP will be highly efficient in delivering IT services in a way that keeps costs low and the time to deploy short, while providing high-quality services to the business.

Additionally, one of the biggest advantages of working with an IT managed services provider is the benefit of a proactive approach. Wherever possible, an MSP will aim to identify issues before they become problems by tracking system error messages and warnings, as well as proactively patching systems to reduce security risks and maximize uptime. If a system failure should occur, your MSP will know within minutes, and its monitoring systems will allow your MSP team to hone in on and fix the issue as quickly as possible. A well maintained, proactively serviced IT infrastructure will always run better than the alternative.

If your business is struggling to keep routine IT tasks like help desk support, network monitoring, security, and data protection working efficiently or you are tasked with strategic, high-impact initiatives that drive business growth, you may want to consider managed IT services.

Financial Advantages

Many organizations wonder if they can afford to hire specialists to support their technology environment. The reality is that partnering with an MSP can be an extremely cost effective way to provide superior support to your organization at a predictable, monthly fixed price. Imagine having to hire specialists in cloud technologies, networking, storage, security, Office 365, disaster recovery and IT support! In fact, cost reduction is often the single most important tactical reason for partnering with an MSP. Experience has shown, however, that if cost reduction is the sole or primary focus, outsourcing is less likely to succeed.

Some of the financial advantages of partnering with an MSP include:

1. Predictable Costs:

• An organization can achieve more predictable costs by outsourcing to an MSP and potentially receive reduced rates for other services offered by the organization.

2. Reduced Costs:

• An MSP reduces your IT costs through economies of scale.
• It is more cost-effective for an organization to contract technical expertise as and when required, than to invest in specialized technical training that may be infrequently used.

3. Hidden Costs:

Seldom do IT leaders take into account the “hidden” costs of personnel. These include:

• The costs of recruiting, marketing, interviewing, testing, screening, hiring and retention.
• The costs of onboarding, training, and management time. It can take several months before a new employee begins to approach the level of the departing employee.
• The costs of mis-hires and turnover, including the time and money spent on training the exiting employee.
• Functional coverage for staff on PTO.

Strategic Advantages

The most overlooked and yet most impactful result of leveraging an MSP is the ability an MSP gives you to accelerate your business. As a C-level executive, you inarguably set annual goals to increase business growth and profitability. To achieve these goals, your strategy may include entering new business segments, expanding geographically, creating new strategic alliances, or even targeting growth through mergers and acquisitions. With the impact technology has across organizations, it is challenging if not virtually impossible to execute on any one of these strategies if there is not a strong alignment with IT. A nightmare scenario for a CEO is determining in the 11th hour that IT team is inadequate or that an IT partner is limiting the ability to close on a deal or maximize the ROI of a strategic initiative.

This is the where the real value of aligning with the proper MSP come to fruition. While on the surface an MSP may seem just operational, the right MSP with deep industry expertise, a portfolio of digital transformation experience, and a strong pedigree of thought leadership will not only eliminate your IT worries, but will enable your organization to achieve your goals and fully realize the value of your vision. A MSP is a critical ingredient to accelerate your business.

For more information about Marcum Technology’s Outsourced Managed IT Services, contact [email protected].