Managed IT Services In Raleigh Relieve Stress, Improve Outcomes

How Hiring A Managed IT Services Company Relieves Business Stress

For many businesses, managed IT services make good business sense. IT costs can be unpredictable and finding the perfect complement of in-house expertise can be nearly impossible in an economy that’s running at or near full employment. We want to show you how managed IT services in Raleigh can relieve stress and improve outcomes for your business. First, though, let’s answer a more basic question: what is managed IT services exactly?

What Are Managed IT Services?

Managed IT services are those aspects of IT that a given organization contracts with another firm to handle. The other firm, called a managed service provider (or MSP), manages the agreed-upon IT services for the organization. The organization needing IT help pays the MSP a predictable monthly fee, and in exchange, the MSP provides the agreed-upon IT services for the client organization.

Managed IT Services agreements can take all sorts of forms. A business may choose to outsource all their IT needs to a managed service provider. This kind of total arrangement is common among smaller businesses that haven’t had the overhead to build out an IT department yet. Other businesses select specific aspects of their IT needs to outsource to an MSP.

For example, a tech-focused firm may outsource all helpdesk functions, allowing their in-house tech talent to focus on higher-level tasks. On the other hand, a sales-based company may want to keep their helpdesk and troubleshooting talent in house and instead outsource the higher-level stuff (web development, eCommerce, servers, hosting, backup—you name it) to an MSP.

The arrangement that makes the most sense for your business depends on many factors, including your industry, your company size, and your current IT capacity compared to demand.

We’re not setting out to explain exactly how your business should structure a managed service agreement in this post. That needs to be an individualized conversation. Here we simply want to show you two big ways that choosing managed IT services in Raleigh can help you.

Choosing Managed IT Services in Raleigh Relieves Stress

Small and medium business leaders deal with enough stress already. Choosing managed IT services is a great way to reduce the stress you experience in the IT component of your business. How, exactly? For most business leaders, simply not having to worry about IT issues themselves is the biggest stress reducer.

When you partner with a managed service provider like CSP, Inc. for all or part of your IT needs, you no longer have to bear the weight of decision-making yourself. You can rely on the highly experienced experts at your MSP for that.

Let’s drill down deeper into the ways choosing managed IT can relieve stress on you and your business.

Greater Security Means Greater Peace of Mind

Cybersecurity is as important as it’s ever been, yet the news of high-profile breaches and data leaks just keeps coming. The Denver Post reports that 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber attack are out of business within 6 months. That makes this a big deal. Outsourcing your cybersecurity strategy to a qualified MSP can greatly reduce your stress.

Think about it: just how confident are you in your in-house team’s ability to stay on the bleeding edge of cybersecurity? If you’re a small business, you likely don’t have a single IT person who specializes in this area. Even if you’re large enough to have a few in-house specialists, are they able to stay focused solely on cybersecurity issues? If they are torn between doing their main job of cybersecurity and meeting other more pedestrian needs, you still have a problem.

Normalizing IT Costs Can Greatly Reduce Stress

Without any managed IT services, an organization’s IT costs can vary greatly. In-house backup servers can run north of $10,000. That’s a significant upfront investment for many businesses. Worse than the upfront cost is the sudden replacement cost you could face if your equipment fails.

Similarly, when critical systems go down and your in-house team can’t fix them, you’re going to be on the hook for extremely expensive specialists. Further, you’re at the mercy of their schedule. If they can’t come until next Tuesday, that’s half a week that your business is limping along.

With managed IT services, you pay a predictable monthly fee for service. If your provider’s server dies, it’s on the provider to replace it. You still pay the same amount.

If this world sounds like great stress relief to you, let’s talk.

Choosing Managed IT Services in Raleigh Improves Outcomes

Not only does choosing managed IT services in Raleigh reduce stress levels for you and your business, it also improves business outcomes. There are countless ways this is true. Let’s look at a few.

Access to Specialists Decreases Downtime and Increases Efficiency

Ask any IT professional. Ask yours, if you have them. If they’re honest, they’ll tell you that at some point they have been tasked with solving a problem that’s not quite in their wheelhouse. This is just the nature of the beast. Fortunately, IT professionals are resourceful problem-solvers, and typically they will find some solution, eventually.

The problem is that IT specialists working outside or above their expertise aren’t efficient. They take longer than necessary to solve problems, and they don’t always solve them in the best ways. Other things can get broken as collateral damage, too.

When you partner with an MSP, you gain access to a whole network of specialists who can solve your problem quickly and correctly. No more band-aid workarounds or jerry-rigged solutions.

MSPs Give Access to the Latest Tech Solutions

The IT landscape is constantly changing, but it’s hard for many in-house IT teams to devote time to the research needed to stay current. Managed service providers make this part of their business. They have the needed expertise to recommend, implement, and support the latest tech solutions, helping your business win.

Conclusion

Your Raleigh-area business can benefit from managed IT services in Raleigh. To find out how much CSP, Inc. can do for you, contact us today. Let’s get the conversation started.