In the beginning, you might handle your IT in-house. But after your business reaches a certain size, there comes a time when it’s no longer productive, secure, or cost-effective to have an ad hoc approach to your tech use.
There are two solutions when you reach this point. One is to hire a complete in-house IT team that will be responsible for your business’s expanding use of tech – and have the salaries to prove it.
The other is to use an MSP – a Managed Service Provider. This modern option replaces old-fashioned IT support services with a kind of flexible expertise that’s designed to manage, plan, and maximise your business’s use of technology as you grow.
Many businesses are making the switch to an MSP. But is the time right for your business to do the same?
Why switch to an MSP?
1) Avoid the tech skills shortfall
It’s no secret that the UK is currently experiencing a massive tech skills shortfall. Demand for skilled IT professionals is far outstripping supply.
This means that IT professionals can increasingly wait for opportunities that are better paid and come with the best benefits. Though every leader wants to be able to offer those to their team, it’s not always possible for a growing business.
The solution many businesses arrive at is either to choose cheaper, less experienced tech talent or spend more to get the right kind of skilled professional – draining resources from other potentially more mission-oriented businesses processes.
A Managed Service Provider provides reliable expertise without the cost of a highly paid in-house professional or team, allowing you to avoid the tech skills shortfall.
2) Save resources for your business’s key activities
An in-house IT department is an easy way to spend a lot of money on staff salaries in an area that might be a big driver of productivity and security, but might not be one of your business’s key activities.
In-house IT budgets are also notoriously difficult to manage. Their demands and expenditure can fluctuate wildly from month to month.
A Managed Service is not only often much more cost-effective, it is also a regular, predictable expense of the kind that both growing businesses need and accountants love.
3) Retain access to expert tech opinions
MSPs don’t work like the IT support services of yesteryear. This isn’t the kind of service that only appears when something goes wrong.
Instead, you’re getting a trusted partner that can not only manage your IT use and make sure you’re getting the most out of your tech. It can also do things like help you:
- Create IT roadmaps for how your business IT use will expand as you grow
- Make key tech-related business decisions by consulting expert advice
- Greenlight projects that require tech expertise or involvement
- Have your cybersecurity constantly monitored and threats handled even before you’re aware of them
- Train your team so that they understand key cybersecurity concepts and processes
Making the change to a Managed Service Provider
When your growing business reaches a certain size, you’ll need a trusted tech partner. The solution that will be best for you will depend on your business.
Some companies still default to spending the money to hire in-house expertise. But for many others, Managed Service Providers provide a more reliable, predictably costed, and flexible solution that can help them manage their tech use as they grow in a planned and strategic way.
Are you considering switching to an MSP?
Let’s talk. Dial A Geek already helped nearly 1000 businesses in Bristol and the UK leverage their tech to get the maximum return on their investment in it.
Set up a cost and commitment-free meeting with Chief Geek Gildas Jones today. Let’s see if a Managed Service Provider can give you what you need to secure your business’s future.