With the digital revolution sweeping across all sectors of the globe, businesses are increasingly digitalizing their operations to unlock the extra opportunities necessary to access more of their target market. One initiative that’s demonstrated to bring a host of unneglectable advantages is the employment of a skillful third party to help handle the bulk or all of the venture’s IT functions. 

To skip the pleasantries, it’s important to note that businesses of all sizes can resort to such special services to spare their employed crew some trouble, ensure client satisfaction, reduce employment expenditure, guarantee smooth solving of tech issues, and a few other perks dissected in the paragraphs below. Uncertainties and perplexities as to how large and lucrative a business should be to safely swift to professional help arise, and for good reason. 

In the U.S. only, 99.9% of enterprises are small, with less than 20% having employees, which justifies the existence of business owners sleeping on the idea of outsourcing IT to MSPs. If you’ve been pondering a similar move, fret not! The list of things to worry about is shorter than one may think. 

From taking advantage of the latest technologies to using cutting-edge cybersecurity services to consolidating managed services, businesses are linking their IT Service Management (ITSM) with administrative objectives to scale multiple operations and boost overall efficiency. This is why enterprises with restricted or scarce budgets could encounter some obstacles. They naturally believe that functioning within the confines of their inbound IT team is the key to keeping expenses under control.

Such an undertaking could, in fact, turn detrimental. You don’t want to draw the short stick, so let’s discover what would be in for you if you invested in skillful and upvoted IT support instead of leaving it all on your overburdened IT team.

Know your actual ITSM necessities 

Wrapping your head around the many IT-based operations in your business that contribute to its success or failure is anything but a breeze. After all, implementing the best programs to detect the main pain points faced daily and keeping and increasing a supervisor’s salary to ensure you’re kept posted on matters like short-tempered staff is a tall order. Given the high likelihood of things turning South when you least expect it, we can’t help but ask you: do you really know your venture’s ITSM needs? 

From what’s been uncovered so far by experts like those from Cyberduo, some of the main areas you should look into are security, asset tracking, logging activities, workflow automation, service demands, alerts, and incident management, to name a few. Some elements you may be aware of, while others could be neglected even by the most skilled of your employees. 

With the right help, you won’t just get answers to some of the most impactful questions, like the fundamental processes that could stand being automated or the main pain points pressuring your business daily. You’ll also get the best solutions for them and ensure the probability of stumbling upon such issues down the road is reduced to unmatched levels.

Receive hands-on support 

For obvious reasons, numerous MSPs swear to look after and solve their client’s IT requirements. Nevertheless, their glorified distant assistance is often overvalued, pushing employees to reconsider their decisions and come to guidelines like this one to better understand what a reliable MSP should provide.

Unless your business runs in the vicinity of a national MSP’s regional branch, the entirety of the assistance received probably happens via video or phone calls. This remoteness may cut it with a few arising IT problems, but it’s essential to recognize if your venture needs hands-on involvement or can do with one or a few inbound employees.

Partnering with a seasoned IT support provider means you can rest assured knowing that an expert will be ready to offer on-site assistance round-the-clock, even if you need it in an instant. Luckily, in time, you can strengthen your relationship with the skilled aid provider since you’ll be in constant touch with the same few individuals any time a problem arises. When an emergency occurs, hearing a familiar voice you’re sure has the skill to fix it is comforting. 

Profit from some of the world’s best ITSM frameworks 

The bulk of MSPs use a blend of ITSM frameworks depending on the needs they need to address, the staff’s expertise, budgetary criteria, and so on. The issues addressed by MSPs can vary widely, but the best current frameworks remain the same. 

Luckily, the right provider will offer you insights into such areas so you can know for a fact where their competency stands. For your viewpoint, if the MSP you eye leverages some of the following frameworks, it could be a trustworthy sign that you’re entering a profitable partnership:

• COBIT, standing for Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies, to upgrade, introduce, and track the venture’s objectives and IT governance
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITL), generally serving as the departing stage for businesses taking on an ITSM framework 
• Motorola’s Six Sigma employed to decrease service drawbacks and analyze data
• Microsoft Operations Framework, shortened MOF, to handle IT lifecycles.

Slash downtime 

Sudden downtime will not only translate to a momentary pause in operations but also result in a considerable productivity loss. Workers may find themselves incapable of using essential data and systems, bringing operations to a standstill. 

Your business is probably small, meaning that every teammate’s input matters. A seemingly unimportant downtime of a few minutes or hours may lead to irreversible repercussions, having cascading effects on things like your contract’s timelines and deliverables. 

Suppose you’re ever feeling the anxiety and oblivion stemming from tech disturbances and impacting employee morale and their work’s overall quality. In that case, it may be a good sign you should look elsewhere for an MSP. Your employed partner should reduce downtime through their promptness, skill, high-tech investments, and so on, not give you another headache and problem to stress over.

Now that you know what you should expect from your MSP, what other curiosities would you like to receive an answer to about these expert services’ benefits?