What Are The Benefits Of Working With A Managed Services Provider (MSP)?

The last several years have shown more and more businesses turning to managed services providers to manage functions within their companies. It can be tough to effectively perform and manage day-to-day business operations while managing a part of the business you lack experience in.

From IT, Print, Cloud, or Human Resources to payroll functions, managed services have proven effective for businesses looking to optimize their business operations.

At LDI, we work with prospects and clients to evaluate their current IT, Print, or Cloud environment to see where they can improve. Some areas of improvement may be helping a client replace their outdated printer fleet or upgrading their current endpoint detection and response software on their computing devices.

This article will cover what a managed services provider is and the five benefits of working with one. By the end of this article, you will better understand managed services and how they can benefit your business.

What Is A Managed Services Provider?

A Managed Services Provider (MSP) is an outsourced third-party company that helps clients manage a particular environment within their business. Managed services providers take a strategic approach to enhance their client’s operations.

MSP’s can offer a high level of expertise in each area and handle a wide range of operational tasks for their customers. With a managed services provider, a company can experience drastic benefits to a particular area they may be struggling to manage independently due to not having the right internal resource or experience.

Regardless of whether the managed services provider (MSP) specializes in managing one’s print environment or payroll services, a provider will typically provide more than one of the following services as a part of their program:

• Helpdesk Support (Remote and Onsite)
• Communications
• Network Security
• Network Administration
• Data Backup

5 Benefits Of Working With A Managed Services Provider?

In the past, cost savings were the driving factor for clients looking to work with a managed services provider. Now the list of benefits has increased.

Let’s dive into five significant benefits of managed services.

1. Increases Office Productivity 

Relying on a managed services provider minimizes downtime and increases office productivity. How?

Office productivity often decreases due to equipment issues such as servers failing, computer malfunctions, or even unintentional human error like clicking on a phishing email.

Managed services take a preventative approach to manage your infrastructure so that your team can focus on their daily business operations rather than worrying about a computing device not running effectively.

An MSP can also help your business expand or upgrade its major systems when need be. This alone takes away the need to hire and train new resources and instead rely on your MSP to complete the task at hand.

2. Provides Helpdesk Support

If there is a particular area of your business that you don’t understand, a managed service provider can help provide both remote and onsite support. 

For example, suppose you are a marketing agency that leases over fifty multifunction devices but has no internal print support that can update, fix, or solve a print-related issue amongst these devices. A managed print provider specializing in managing a company’s print environment can provide you with support in this area.

Having a trusted specialist to call or refer to when your company has a particular concern can help you solve the issue that much quicker. 

Additionally, most managed services providers utilize remote monitoring software to keep a close eye on your systems. This means that if any alerts occur, they can be corrected in real-time before they have any real impact on your business.

3. Saves Money

Yes, managed services can help your business cut down on costs too.

With managed services, costs are typically stated upfront and are usually packaged in an annual or monthly based subscription model.

Working with a managed services provider for your IT environment can help you assess where you’re currently overspending to help correct it long-term.

For example, suppose your company has an overburdened in-house IT team. In that case, chances are that you are facing frequent and unexpected expenses due to a lack of awareness of your current outdated computing devices, software, and applications.

A managed services provider will help your business cut costs by assessing your current environment, analyzing the data they receive, and recommending solutions that fit your particular needs.

4. Introduces You To New Business Technology 

Technology has always been a huge cost for most workplaces.

It can be hard to discern which technology may be right for your business. That’s why it’s always good to have experts recommending equipment or upgrades that would best serve your business needs.

Why spend time, effort, and money investing in a particular infrastructure only to find out it doesn’t meet your company’s needs?

One of the main perks of working with a managed services provider is having constant access to up-to-date technology. Gone are the days where you need to worry that your operating system is outdated. Luckily, the cost of system upgrades is included within your managed services fee.

4. Improves Security

A managed services provider understands how to employ strong safeguards to prevent potential security breaches or risks within your environment.

Without an MSP, it can be hard to know the right steps to secure your particular infrastructure from a possible breach. Since small businesses tend to be more vulnerable to cybercrime than large businesses, it’s always advised to have the proper malware software and cybersecurity plan in place. 

Not every in-house team may have the experience to tackle a data breach and mitigate security risk. An MSP can provide peace of mind in showing you a detailed plan of how they go about mitigating the security risk from start to finish.

Is Your Business Ready For Managed Services?

Managed Services are not for everyone. Requiring managed services depends on the experience and knowledge of your internal teams, your company’s particular business needs; as well as understanding which area of your business requires managed services.

Once your business has ironed out those key factors, it comes down to choosing the right managed services provider for you.

For over twenty years, LDI has managed IT, Print, and cloud environments for countless clients as a managed services provider.

Learn more about how managed print services can help your company cut costs today.