Why Go to an MSP Now?

We’re all feeling the Covid-19 impact on the economy, and business is making decisions they didn’t envision at the start of the year. I advise clients to ask: what has or could change because of the new business climate?  What were we doing that had little value?  What new things are we doing, which we would not have considered, and have a long term positive impact?    I developed a survey to establish potential enhancements. We encourage you to examine your organization for long term improvements.

One question we recommend you ask yourself is, should we go to a Managed Service Provider (MSP) now to handle our Information Technology?  In times of economic expansion, companies look for how IT drives growth; what new ideas and capabilities can we develop?  Conversely, in a shrinking economy, companies need predictable, and hopefully shrinking costs.  A predictable monthly fee removes an item of doubt from the financial plan allowing you to focus on the needs of the business.

In the 2008-2009 economic recession, I joined an MSP, and we added many new clients seeking the knowns and improved reliability in a world that was unknown and unreliable.  Many of these clients stayed until I left that firm twelve years later.   The market is seeking the same now: a need for knowns and reliability, a trusted advisor.

What companies should ask this question?   While any can, it is best considered by small to midsize (SMB) organizations that want to have an appropriately sized IT Team for their overall employee and technology base.  If you have between 25 and 400 employees, you should be asking this question.  If you are more substantial, you may still consider an MSP for tactical needs like server management, backups, and Disaster Recovery, etc.

What if you have an IT staff and may add to it? Should you go to an MSP now?

An IT staff in a small business is a small staff! This means you will be limited!  How?

• Limited time (40 hours a week, so scaling for projects and special needs is a problem).
• Limited knowledge – IT is very broad.  Generally, you need nine people with nine skills to operate IT, even in the smallest business.  One person does not possess all the skills to the depth required to support your needs.
• You will have limited insight – Leadership will not know what IT is doing and are in many respects at their mercy.

What is an MSP, and what will they do for me?

A Managed Service Provider (MSP) is a company with skills in information technology, who agrees to take care of your IT needs.  They may be the entire IT function, or sometimes, supplement an existing team with specialized skills and bandwidth. 

Having an MSP allows you to focus on your business.  Unless information technology is a competitive advantage for you (and unless you are Google or Facebook, it probably is not), it really should be considered. 

Why go to an MSP now?

It is always good to consider an MSP for all the reasons listed here, but with the Covid-19 issues, it is a timely consideration.  Making a change now will remove distractions and allow you to focus on critical and urgent business needs. If you are filling out a loan form, and IT is taking any time, you are missing a great opportunity. If you cannot move your employees to effective remote work, you are at risk.

Having an MSP will solve the three fundamental problems of IT in an SMB listed above: you will have more bandwidth of time and knowledge, and will have greater insight into what IT is doing for you (or, and forbid it, to you).  A good MSP has a team ready to help you with varied skillsets to provide expertise.  You should also have a clear agreement for service which you can and should expect.

But, in a more detailed review of what you get, you will have an agreement with a firm to provide these essential benefits. The list below includes the things you should look for in a potential MSP.

• Service Level Agreements (SLA) – an agreed to response and system availability, so IT and user support are reliable.
• Easy to understand deliverables – I have noticed that the business does not understand what the internal IT tech needs or does, and the IT tech misunderstands the business; this makes it hard to align with and understand what IT is doing for you.  An MSP has a group of business leaders with excellent IT skills.  You will know what you are getting.
• Fixed Monthly Fees for Fixed Monthly Services – You should never be surprised by charges. The service should be regular and predictable, just like the invoice. Put another way, services should for what you need, and you are only charged for those. 
• Single Point of Contact when Issues occur – An MSP can manage third-party services like Office 365 and your internet and will assign an account manager to make sure you are receiving great value.  One phone call by you should get it done.
• Multiple Skills in an MSP team – When technology and markets shift, you will realize the need for a new skill or perspective.  An MSP manages various client environments and can meet your requirements when you need a new capability to get over a growth or cost hump.
• An MSP brings their tools – How would you like it if you hired a company to put in a new driveway and they asked where your backhoe was? Your MSP should include current tools properly configured to bring your IT to a new level of technology immediately.  It would take years to do that internally.  An MSP must provide the latest and most capable patching, monitoring, and help desk management tools.
• Shifts costs from CapEx to OpEx – While not all MSPs offer it, services like Hardware as a Service, where expensive servers are included in the monthly fees allow you to shift your costs significantly. 
• Applies Best Practices – Technology is a changing target, the consensus is it changes every five years, so if you are doing it as you did five years ago, you need to evaluate what you are missing.  Your MSP should be constantly training and familiarizing themselves with technology trends, so they can be your go-to experts.
• More Secure – When security hacks happen, and they do, an MSP with many clients sees them across multiple environments, and should have a toolbox of approaches to respond to keep you safe. 

BizTechSherpa has a deep understanding of business needs in IT, and as the Managing Partner of an MSP for over a decade, understands where an MSP can and cannot help. Email us to get help on determining if an MSP will help you, and which ones would be suitable to consider. We can also provide you with a standard Request for Proposal (RFP) and help you tailor it for your unique needs. You won’t regret the help you get from us!