What are the pros and cons of managed IT services?

Managed IT services offer businesses of all sizes a wide range of IT support services. IT support includes proactively monitoring a company’s network, infrastructure and systems.

An MSP typically offers a partial or fully-remote service that covers remote monitoring, a 24/7 365 days a year IT helpdesk, day-to-day network management, cloud solutions and software as a service, device, asset and IT infrastructure management, projects and IT strategy, cyber security and backup recovery, and regular updates to your tech with daily backups.

MSPs will get to know your business. An expert managed service provider will take the time to fully understand the intricacies of your company, applying a unique approach and not using a set formula of IT support for all their clients. They will draw up a package that can be tailored to your business needs and requirements.

They’ll minimise IT problems and their engineers will be available at any time of day or night to troubleshoot anything that arises on the network. Continue reading for the pros and cons of outsourcing your IT.

Managed IT services negate risks.

There are many positives to outsourcing your IT to an MSP, some key benefits include:

Employees can’t work if their IT equipment or the business’s technology is not working. Sometimes it’s worthwhile employing a dedicated IT employee, however, using an MSP is becoming increasingly more popular. Have you considered outsourcing your IT? Here are the pros and cons of using managed service providers:

Pros –

1. Proactive management and monitoring of your IT estate
   
   An MSP manages your IT infrastructure and provides constant monitoring of your business’s IT systems. This includes management for any hardware, applications, security and network or internet that you use. If an issue occurs, you’ll be notified and the managed services provider will be proactively working on a fix to minimise business disruption and downtime. When outsourcing your IT to an MSP, you are paying for them to keep your world moving. This helps increase uptimes and the quality of service you deliver.
   
   
2. Technology is provided
   
   Depending on the type of package or plan you have with a managed services provider, they can provide all the technology you need to run your business. This includes IT equipment and hardware, software and servers. As they provide all the hardware and software, they are responsible for the management, upkeep and security of all the technology. Not only is this incredibly beneficial, but it offers a hassle-free experience, and the reassurance that all your tech is secure, up-to-date and fully supported.
   
   
3. Access to their extensive expertise
   
   Unfortunately, small businesses that rely on one IT professional to manage their estate are limited; it is unlikely that this one person will have expertise in all areas of IT. An MSP has multiple teams with expertise in all areas. From troubleshooting Office 365 to printer issues or routers that aren’t functioning, with a managed services provider, there’s always a skilled someone on hand to provide solutions and resolutions to any IT issues that arise.
   
   
4. 24/7 availability
   
   With managed IT services, you benefit from an IT helpdesk that provides 24/7 availability, 365 days a year. The team is made up of dedicated and specialised engineers that are always on-hand to answering any questions or look into and solve any IT problems you’re facing. No matter the time of day or night that you’re working. If you’re relying on one IT professional, they may be limited in their support capabilities and only able to offer IT support during typical 9 to 5 hours. An MSP transcends this, allowing your employees to work remotely, from wherever and at any time.
   
   
5. Business continuity
   
   Sadly, sometimes disasters happen and all your systems an data can become compromised or lost. What would your business do then? How would you go about restoring the systems and not losing data? Here, an MSP can help massively. They will create a disaster recovery plan, allowing you to rest easy at night knowing that if disaster strikes, your business is in good hands and can recover quickly.
   
   
6. Cost-efficient
   
   Depending on the price of the managed services versus the cost of hiring in-house IT professionals, it can work out more cost efficient to hire an MSP for your IT support needs. IT professional salaries can be costly when compared to the monthly cost of a managed services provider. It’s worth weighing up the cost difference and benefits. When you don’t employ in-house professionals it can also save on office equipment, space in the office and more.

Cons –

1. Limited to no physical IT presence at your office
   
   Depending on whether you’ve selected local managed IT services, or opted for a remote offering, then one negative to outsourcing your IT is that they are not based in your office. This can prove an issue if a printer or on-site server problem occurs. Whilst most issues can be resolved remotely, which is what MSPs tend to offer, it can be beneficial to look for a service provider that is based close to your office and/ or offers on-site support, enabled through their team of field engineers.
   
   
2. Costly
   
   Yes, we did include cost as a point in our list of pros. But, the cost of an MSP can be also be expensive, depending on the size of your business, what your IT needs are and how much budget you have to spend on outsourcing your IT. It’s advisable to shop around and consider the benefits to hiring in-house IT support vs. outsourcing.
   
   
3. Scope of the managed services
   
   Unfortunately, the scope of service offerings that an MSP provides can be limited, if your budget doesn’t allow full coverage. The package they provide will often include a list of applications they support. However, before signing your contract with an MSP, be sure to outline all software and applications that your business uses and ask for a tailored package that includes all the systems you require and need IT support with.
   
   
4. Potential for reduced in-house knowledge retention 
   
   Naturally, when you outsource your IT, you lose or can significantly reduce your in-house knowledge of your IT systems and software. However, if you work with a good MSP then this ability to build your own processes and retain knowledge will be transparent and part of a collaboration.
   
   

Looking to outsource your IT to an MSP? We provide managed IT services to businesses of all sizes across the UK, including London and Milton Keynes, and overseas.

If you’re a small business and considering signing up to an MSPs IT support services, make sure you consider: budget, remote and on-site IT needs, and how secure your technology will be.

Give us a call on 0845 257 8010, alternatively, fill out our online enquiry form, and one of our team will be in touch with you shortly to discuss your business requirements.