In our evolving post-Covid-19 world, we’ve had to re-learn the way we act and think. What worked for our businesses in the past might no longer help us in the future. The coronavirus pandemic has caused a seismic shift, and the businesses who learned to adapt to the changes it brought thrived and survived. With Covid-19 not off the cards yet – if ever – we’re now in a time where business owners need to be strong, flexible, and determined.
If we look back upon the pre-pandemic world, we had it pretty good. Of course, life was never perfect, but we had it good compared to other times in the past – the wars, the strife, the hardship. At our fingertips, we had the smartphone containing anything we wanted to know; we had a higher life expectancy than ever and were flourishing on the whole.
Thriving and outsourcing
Many businesses which thrived in the pandemic and came out of the other side did so because they knew what they needed to do – or because they had a support system that made sure they knew what they needed to do. That support system? It’s the MSP. The Managed Services Provider who took care of things when they were on the shaky pandemic ground.
While every business owner would love to stand on their own two feet and be self-reliant, the truth is that the most successful enterprises do not. Instead, they outsource to experts so that they can work entirely on their business without having to worry about their IT.
Relying on an MSP
One of the main reasons why many companies outsource their IT support is for cost reduction. By outsourcing, you don’t need to worry about employing a different person in-house or the cost. What’s more, unlike a single employee, an MSP is available all year round. They won’t take sick leave or go on vacation, for example. Imagine your sole IT employee is away in the Maldives when you have a business cyber security issue!
One important reason why many companies prefer to rely on an MSP is due to the secure infrastructure. MSP data centers and IT infrastructure is much more secure when compared to a standard IT system in a business. This means that the business network and data will be protected. Of course, it goes without saying that business cybersecurity is something not to be taken lightly.
Finally, using an MSP means a company can benefit from being able to centralize all of its servers and applications within a managed data center. With centralized data, you can have storage, backup infrastructure and virtual services too.
Do I really need an MSP?
Only you can answer that question. However, it’s probably a good idea if you’re a small business with employees wearing more than one hat. Small businesses often suffer from knowledge gaps when it comes to IT updates and developments. With an MSP, no employee will have to wear the “IT Whizz” hat, and they can all concentrate on their own roles. You can have complete peace of mind about business cybersecurity with the experts on board.
Small businesses often need more predictable outgoings, too, and if this is the case, an MSP can really help. Since the cost of IT changes frequently, it can be quite daunting for small businesses to even put a figure on their future IT expenses. In addition, budgeting for IT is tough – one month, you might not need anything but the next, you might need to deal with a broken computer, a security issue, or need a new server. With an MSP, though, you can choose to pay a flat fee each month, which makes budgeting much simpler. And because all of the systems are maintained, they last longer, which reduces costs again.
Can you be self-reliant?
Of course – and there’s nothing wrong with this if you know what you’re doing. If your company is in the IT industry itself, it might make sense to do everything in-house, for example. In essence, nobody needs an MSP – however, many people want them because their services are worth the outlay.
