Are Managed IT Services in Your Future? Here’s an Easy Way to Find Out

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to hand off the responsibility and worry of your IT services to a managed services provider (MSP), consider this old business adage: Sometimes you don’t know you’ve been banging your head into the wall until you stop.

It can be the same way for SMBs and information technology. Chances are that you’ve built your company up from scratch, including your systems and tech support. As your company grows, though, so does the complexity of your systems. There comes a point when you know you’re spending too much and getting too little out of your IT infrastructure. For a moment, let yourself imagine what it would be like to farm it out and get a glimpse of running your business without the head banging. Relief!

How to Decide if an MSP is Right for Your Business

Before you pick up the phone and dial Infinity, Inc. or any other MSP, your company will want to conduct an internal hybrid assessment. It is a hybrid because you’re assessing both yourself and your business. You’ll look at yourself: what you’re good at and what you like to do. Then assess your business: its strengths, weaknesses, and growth opportunities. Where do you want to take it?

Ask yourself one very basic question: How much do I really like dealing with information technology? This includes phone systems, all-in-one printers, servers, workstations, networking gear, and all the software and accessories. If the idea fills you with dread, rather than the excitement we feel here at Infinity, it might be worth taking off your plate.

Some other questions to consider as part of your personal and company assessment include:

• Do you enjoy spending nights and weekends with your IT guy troubleshooting your systems?
• Do you feel confident about your systems and the people you’ve put in charge?
• Are you sure your infrastructure is optimized and the data is secure and recoverable?
• Could you handle a growth spurt? A relocation? A merger?

How to Choose the Right MSP

When you have decided to look into letting an MSP free up your time and resources, you’ll want to talk to a firm that will meet your particular needs. You’ll want a company that is flexible and can discuss various options, as there are several approaches that might work for your business. For example, if you’ve just recently upgraded your systems, you can continue to own your infrastructure at your own site while outsourcing the management of all or parts of your infrastructure. You may also choose to utilize the service provider’s equipment in its own highly secure datacenter. You would just monitor the service provider’s management of the equipment.

You can also work out agreements for receiving certain types of services while maintaining control of other functions. Disaster recovery is one of the most popular MSP offerings because that provider will locate and manage the redundant systems offsite. Network design and management is another popular service, particularly as companies incorporate more mobile devices into their business.

However you and your MSP decide to approach it, the combination of cost savings, simplification of IT, and 24/7 support are compelling enough to warrant investigation. When you consider that you could have access to Lenovo System X (formerly IBM) technology and other IBM hardware and software offerings, the value proposition is even more compelling.

As Wired put it, “The word is out: Managed services make sense. When you look at your IT costs and staffing requirements for the future, it’s never too late to consider how managed services can help you change the game.”

Learn more about how to optimize your business and enjoy peace-of-mind with managed services, or call us at (912) 629-2426 to start the conversation today.