An MSP \u2013 or managed service provider \u2013 is a convenient way of outsourcing what\u2019s likely to be one of your startup\u2019s biggest costs \u2013 IT.<\/p>\n
Of course, cost is only one of the benefits you\u2019ll find when you use an MSP \u2013 so here, we\u2019ll look at what those benefits are in a little more depth, as well as posing some questions that\u2019ll help you decide if outsourcing your IT could help you drive your new business forward\u2026<\/p>\n
As you\u2019ll already realise if you\u2019re taking staff on for your startup, recruitment is costly \u2013 and not just from a monetary point of view.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s estimated that a recruitment drive resulting in one new member of staff is likely to cost a startup around $20,000 \u2013 owing significantly to the cost of finding the candidates \u2013 and the lost time involved with interviewing.<\/p>\n
Taking a managed service provider onboard cuts all of these recruitment costs out. In fact, you\u2019re likely to have MSPs knocking on your door when you start out. Time is at a premium when you\u2019re starting a business \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean you should choose the first company to throw their hat into the ring. Talk to business associates and friends \u2013 finding an MSP that\u2019s the right fit isn\u2019t always easy.<\/p>\n
Even putting aside the recruitment process and the drain on resources it represents, having staff employed by your company isn\u2019t always easy \u2013 primarily because of the unpredictability they bring.<\/p>\n
When you have staff, you also have holidays, sickness, leave, resignations, disciplinaries, performance management<\/a> \u2013 and much, much more. While this is understandable, you\u2019ve got to remember what your employees are going to be supporting \u2013 IT doesn\u2019t rest; it doesn\u2019t have days off; and, you can bet that problems are going to occur when it\u2019s the most inconvenient time.<\/p>\n The good news is, MSPs can provide round-the-clock support \u2013 and they\u2019re never going to get a more attractive job prospect from somewhere else. Buying the services of an MSP means you buy consistency and reliability \u2013 something that\u2019s increasingly hard to find in employees.<\/p>\n As if the case for hiring an MSP over a team of employees wasn\u2019t already strong enough; even if you could magically make a reliable IT team appear in your office, they\u2019d still need extensive training and, often, numerous accreditations to make sure they can safely work on your IT infrastructure.<\/p>\n IT training doesn\u2019t come cheap, and it can seem like a huge expense when you\u2019re simply maintaining one network \u2013 but, when you hire an MSP, you\u2019re working with a team who have up to the moment training \u2013 which they\u2019re applying to their work with dozens of clients.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not just training and book learning that an MSP brings to your business \u2013 they\u2019ve got a never-ending depth of experience that grows while they\u2019re with you \u2013 owing to the number of clients they have at any one time.<\/p>\n IT professionals often have significant experience too \u2013 and they\u2019ll bring that to your team if you recruit them for an in-house role \u2013 but, when you do, that experience stops growing. From that point onward, they work for you, they know your systems \u2013 and they are familiar with your applications.<\/p>\n This fixed, limited experience means it\u2019s hard to keep an in-house team up to speed with the ever-evolving best-practice that\u2019s needed at the cutting edge of business IT.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already talked about the staffing issues that you\u2019re likely to face with an in-house IT team \u2013 but there\u2019s one significant staffing issue that you\u2019ll only be able to get around by employing a team that\u2019ll monitor your system 24 hours a day. Quite simply, IT doesn\u2019t sleep \u2013 but, staff teams do \u2013 whereas you\u2019re likely to find an MSP who\u2019ll be happy to provide 24-hour monitoring and cover for your network.<\/p>\n This round-the-clock monitoring of your IT systems means you\u2019re very unlikely to face a Monday morning walking into your building to find that your systems are down (and could have been since Friday evening). Instread, you\u2019re likey to find an email from your account manager telling you that a problem occurred \u2013 but it was fixed before it had any impact.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not just MSPs that can provide this service \u2013 but the advent of remote systems monitoring and the ease with which an SD WAN control system<\/a> allows your network to be handled (even without hands-on in your locations) means that MSPs are perfectly positioned to provide this service at a realistic price.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re a new business starting up, there\u2019s a lot to be said for knowing what\u2019s coming or going to and from your bank account.<\/p>\n The trouble is, IT is often a wildcard. Are you going to need to cover staff absence with contract staff at short notice? Will you need to hire an MSP to plug the gaps that emerge in your IT team\u2019s knowledge? What will happen if a key team member finds a role elsewhere?<\/p>\n Unpredictability in staffing often causes unpredictable costs \u2013 whereas an MSP will deliver what they signed up to deliver, without any additional costs being thrown in on a month to month basis.<\/p>\n This list of benefits that an MSP could bring to your business might lead you toward thinking you\u2019ll get a \u2018set package\u2019 from a managed network provider \u2013 but that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\nNo training costs<\/h2>\n
Incredible experience<\/h2>\n
A proactive approach<\/h2>\n
Predictable costs<\/h2>\n
A service agreement<\/h2>\n